Riddick Bowe vs. Jesse Ferguson

Only three months prior, Riddick Bowe had made the first successful defense of his titles against Michael Dokes. On the undercard of that bout, Ray Mercer, who was scheduled to be Bowe's next opponent, met journeyman fighter Jesse Ferguson in what was supposed to be a tune-up before his championship match with Bowe. Instead, Ferguson controlled almost the entire fight and earned the upset victory by unanimous decision, knocking Mercer out of contention. With Bowe now in need of a new opponent, it was announced on March 24 that it would be Ferguson who would next challenge Bowe.[1] However, as Ferguson was not ranked by the IBF, the organization chose not to sanction the bout, thus Bowe's IBF Heavyweight title was not on the line.[2] Despite his limited success and his status as a 40-1 underdog, Ferguson remained confident that he could defeat Bowe, vowing to get the victory by knockout. Bowe responded to Ferguson's claims by calling him a "knucklehead" while also threatening to "punish" his competitor.[3]

Much like in his previous fight, Bowe was able to dominate the entire duration of the fight. Bowe was the aggressor from the opening bell, constantly having Ferguson on the defensive throughout the first round by effectively using his left jab. With less than 30 second left in the round, a left hook from Bowe sent Ferguson back into the ropes which led to Bowe landing another left hook 10 seconds later that dropped Ferguson to the canvas. Ferguson barely was able to answer the referee's 10 count, just managing to get up at the count of nine as the round ended. Only seconds into round 2, Bowe was able to land an 8-punch combination that again sent Ferguson to the mat. This time Ferguson was unable to get up and Bowe was announced the winner by knockout.[4]

After Bowe's two successful title defenses over marginal competition, the much anticipated Bowe–Holyfield rematch was announced to take place on November 6, 1993. Like the previous fight, the two fighters again went the full 12 rounds, this time though, it was Holyfield who would earn the victory, becoming the only man to defeat Bowe in his professional career.

Confirmed bouts:[5]

Winner	Loser	Weight division/title belt(s) disputed	Result
Roy Jones Jr	Bernard Hopkins	vacant IBF middleweight title	12th round Unanimous decision
Non-TV bouts
Egerton Marcus	Andrew Maynard	NABF Light Heavyweight Title	8th round RTD.
Sharmba Mitchell	Kenny Baysmore	Catchweight (10 rounds)	1st round KO.
George Scott	John Stewart	Welterweight (8 rounds)	Unanimous decision.
Jorge Luis Gonzalez	Dwayne Hall	Heavyweight (8 rounds)	1st round TKO.
Shannon Briggs	Bruce Johnson	Heavyweight (6 rounds)	1st round TKO.
Ben Simmons	Anthony Hardy	Super Featherweight (4 rounds)	Majority decision.