Riddick Bowe made his first heavyweight title defense a brief one Saturday night, stopping overmatched Michael Dokes 2:19 into the first round in his hometown at Madison Square Garden.
Bowe, a 16-1 favorite, improved to 33-0 with 28 knockouts while dropping Dokes, a 34-year-old ex-champion, to 50-4-2.Dokes never left his feet but was battered around the ring in the brief bout and referee Joe Santarpia called a knockdown when the ropes supported Dokes. Bowe hurt Dokes with a big right and sent him stumbling backward halfway through the ropes with a left hook midway through the round. Santarpia separated the boxers and gave Dokes an eight-count.
He waived Bowe back in and the champion sent Dokes backward into his own corner with a left hook. Bowe flurried and sat Dokes on the second rope with a big right. Dokes then reeled back into his corner again without getting hit. Bowe resumed his attack, battering Dokes with both hands. The challenger pitched forward and Satarpia stopped it with 41 seconds left in the round.
The crowd of 16,332 booed the decision, although Dokes seemed in serious trouble.
"I thought he was hurt," Bowe said. "I thought he should've stopped it. He was just no match for me."
Dokes immediately argued with Santarpia and said afterward the bout was stopped too soon. His cornerman Sterling McPherson screamed at Santarpia, "It's for the heavyweight championship of the world," and had to be restrained.
"I was under control," Dokes said. "I was ready to fire back. I wasn't even hurt. How could he do that? How could he do that? He never asked me."
Santarpia said it was not necessary to ask.
"I looked in his eyes - he was gone, he was out," Santarpia said. "His eyes were glassy. He was falling all over the place. He must've got hit with 20 straight punches."
Bowe intends to fight again in June. He was supposed to fight Ray Mercer June 18, but Mercer lost a 10-round decision to Jesse Ferguson on the undercard. Bowe's manager, Rock Newman, said he hopes to make a deal for either George Foreman, Tommy Morrison or a rematch with Evander Holyfield next.
Bowe, 25, won the undisputed title on a thrilling 12-round decision over Holyfield Nov. 13 at Las Vegas, Nev.
Bowe gave up the World Boxing Council title because of a political dispute and retained the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation crowns. Lennox Lewis now owns the WBC title, but he and Bowe probably will not fight until 1994.
Bowe earned nearly $7 million and Dokes less than $1 million for the fight.