By James Slater: Former heavyweight king Riddick “Big Daddy” Bowe has had planned comeback fights fall through over the last year or so. Last seen in a ring back in April of 2005, when he was having the second bout of an ill-advised return, Bowe looked awful against journeyman Billy Zumbrun – being hit plenty before scraping a split decision win..
Bowe sought to continue fighting on, but for one reason or another he was unable to get a fight to stick. Now, however, according to BoxRec.com, the 41-year-old will box again on the under-card of the Wladimir Klitschko-Hasim Rahman world title bout in Germany. Bowe, 42-1(33) will be having his first fight in almost four years when he takes on unknown German Gene Pukall, a 33-year-old with an undistinguished 14-12-2(12) record.
Bowe has certainly picked a nice easy one to make his latest return against. Standing barely 6 feet and weighing approx 220-pounds, Pukall is not only a smallish heavyweight, he is also one who has been KO’d inside a single round in two of his last three fights. Boxing his entire career in his home country, the 33-year-old has never met a recognisable name, yet he has still been stopped some nine times. Even worse, Pukall was done away with inside a round by a guy having his pro debut in his last outing – being put down three times by Finland’s Robert Helenius in May of this year.
Even with whatever he has left today, then, Bowe should win on December 13th. Riddick will have a big advantage in height and reach, along with a massive advantage in weight. Just what “Big Daddy” will tip in at we do not know, but it’s unlikely to be anywhere too far below the 270-280-pound range. If he can punch with anything approaching the kind of power he once had, Bowe will surely get a stoppage win. However, at his age, and after all the ring-rust he’s acquired, there is no such thing as a 100-percent winnable fight for the man who was undisputed heavyweight champion of the world in 1992 and ’93.
And as poor as he is, Pukall does have 12 KO’s to his name. Bowe would be extremely unlucky to get stopped by such a smaller and inferior foe, but it could happen. Just how far Bowe thinks he can go in this latest comeback is not known, but there have been disturbing rumours saying he wants to one day box one of the Klitschko brothers. While that thought is enough to send shivers down the spine of any fight fan, in this sport anything is possible.
Phase one of what Bowe likely believes to be a new assault on the heavyweight crown looks set to take place on December 13th in Deutschland. Rather than make a prediction for the fight, this writer would rather just hope that no-one gets hurt.