• Heavyweight

Bowe set for ring return in Leicester

ESPN staff
May 28, 2013
Riddick Bowe is also set to make his Muay Thai debut in Thailand this summer © AP
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Former boxing great Riddick Bowe will return to the ring this summer, 21 years after his reign as undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.

Bowe, 45, will be the headline attraction at an exhibition bout with retired English heavyweight Mark Potter, whose MMA career was ended by injury in March.

Promoter Scott Lansdowne is delighted to have secured Bowe for the Leicester event, having fielded Nigel Benn and Tim Witherspoon in previous exhibitions.

"I'm absolutely thrilled to have signed up someone of the calibre of Riddick Bowe," Lansdowne told the Leicester Mercury.

"He is a real legend of the sport and a name that anyone who follows the sport will know. It should be a cracking night."

Brooklyn-born Bowe was beaten just once in his 45-fight career, a defeat he reversed against Evander Holyfield in a rematch.

He was crowned undisputed heavyweight champion in 1992 after winning the WBA, WBC and IBF heavyweight titles and enjoyed a second reign as world champion when he reclaimed the WBO belt in 1995.

Bowe retired in 1996, but made a return to the ring in 2004. He has been out of action since 2008 and has recently been pursuing a career in MMA - he faces Levgen Golovin of Russia for the Muay Thai super-heavyweight championship in Thailand in June.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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