with shots to the head and body. Bowernwas wobbling, he would go in this roundrnor the next. Golota smote him hip andrnthigh, and then Bowe pulled out the oldestrntrick in the book—when Golota’srnhand went low and brushed Bowe’srnthigh, Bowe fell to his knees andrnclutched himself as if he had received arnkarate kick in the groin, an acting performancernthat surely ought to win Bowe anrnOscar for best actress of 1996. “Big fatrncry baby!” came a shout in Polish, “Cornbeczysz?” But by then it was too late.rnThe referee stopped the fight and disqualihedrnthe Polish champion, who wentrnover to a neutral corner in the most gentlemanlyrnfashion—indeed Golota hadrnconducted himself throughout the fightrnwith absolute decorum, not whiningrnwhen Bowe held his head, and acceptingrnthe docking of points with a smart nodrnlike a cavalryman taking his orders.rnGolota had obviously beaten Bowe inrnthe moral sense; the crowd knew it,rnBowe’s corner knew it, and Bowe’s managerrnRock Newman knew it to therndepths of his rotten little soul. Sorernlosers all, and even sorer winners. A secondrnafter the fight was over I watchedrnRock Newman run onto the canvas gesticulatingrnand screaming. He may havernthrown a punch, I do not know. But hernwas followed by a crowd of Bowe’s fans,rnand then the riot broke out. Golota wentrndown under a pile of yelling black thugs,rnand his trainer, 74-year-old Lou Duva,rncollapsed. Perhaps the most appallingrnsight of all was when a walkie-talkie wasrnsmashed into the back of Golota’s head,rncausing a gush of blood. It was the bestrnhit he had taken during the entire fight.rnThe riot continued for half an hour atrnleast, and only a liar or a news reporterrnwould describe it as anything other thanrna chance for blacks to chase and beat uprnanyone they could see with white skin. Irnsaw an elderly white man lying huddledrnon the ground, a behemoth of a blackrnwoman kicking him and spitting on hisrnprostrate form. One young black pickedrnup a microphone stand and hurled it likerna javelin. Another brought a chair crashingrndown on a pile of wrestling bodies.rnEverywhere there were sucker-punchesrnand cheap shots, the favorite method ofrnfighting of street punks from D.C. andrnNew York and Cabrini Green. A whiternfigure sidling out would be felled by arnblow from behind or from the side, andrnthen four or five blacks would leap in andrnstomp the white devil.rnThe news media of course reportedrnthe whole thing as it if were merely sportsrnhooligans at their usual tricks. But 1 havernseen English football hooligans in action;rntheir gangs are multicultural and theyrnfight for pleasure and for their team colors.rnHere the hooligans were lookingrnsolely for white faces. Not Polish colors,rnnot obvious Golota supporters, butrnwhite faces. New York 1, the news channelrnwhose reporting is so biased as to bernalmost risible, showed videotape of arnblack youth being held in a headlock byrna black security guard, and followed thisrnby a still picture of one of their femalern(naturally) boxing reporters spoutingrninanities. WFAN sports radio spentrntime on a caller who claimed that thernriot was started by (get this) Polish skinheads!rnAnd most sick-making of all,rnRock Newman, whom many think startedrnthe riot by rushing the ring in a frenzy,rnwent on television to claim that herndid it to protect his fighter! From what,rnone asks? Golota was in a neutral corner,rnBowe was resting and had won, and thernring was empty.rnLuckily there is a videotape of the riot.rnWhether it will be of any use is anotherrnmatter. When, last year at the Meadowlands,rndisgruntled Giants fans (mostlyrnwhite) were caught on film throwingrnsnowballs because the game was delayed,rnpolice and stadium authorities combedrncarefully through the footage and wentrnafter those who were guilty of the egregiousrnsnowball crime. Now, one wonders,rnwill the same care be taken with thernMadison Square Gardens tape? Willrnhundreds of black boxing fans be arrestedrnfor felonious assault, or even “bias”rncrimes? And will President Clinton apologizernon behalf of the American peoplernto the Polish visitors caught in this racialrnmelee? Will even the bloodthirstyrnscoundrel with the walkie-talkie do anyrnactual time in gaol? I counsel my readersrnnot to hold their breath. After all, one reporterrnon ESPN described the violentrnbehavior of the rioters as “inappropriate.”rnI wish he had been caught in it.rnPOSTSCRIPT: Several weeks after thernriot, my attempts to contact the relevantrnauthorities yielded the following information:rnthere had been 22 arrests. Mostrnof those arrested were issued desk appearancerntickets (or “disappearance tickets”rnas they are known in police circles).rnNew York’s athletic commission has.rnhowever, imposed a one-million dollarrnfine on Riddick Bowe because of his handlers’rnactions during the post-fight brawl.rnThe commission said that Bowe’s manager.rnRock Newman, and his men hadrn”initiated, contributed to and exacerbated”rnthe riot. Newman’s license and thatrnof Golota’s manager have also been temporarilyrnsuspended.rnCuriously, the relevant pages of the arrestrnbook for the night of the 11th hadrnthemselves disappeared, perhaps tornrnout. Asked about the possibility of any ofrnthe fans being charged with “biasrncrimes” (an absurd concept in any case),rnthe spokesman laughed and told me thatrnthose rare instances where blacks wererncharged with “bias” were unfailinglyrnthrown out by prosecutors. Even the viciousrnbrute with the walkie-talkie wasrnunlikely to be prosecuted. And no, thernpolice would not be studying videotapesrnof the event. As a sports journalist explainedrnit to me, many of the whites whornhad been set upon were not even properrnAmericans, but Polacks.rnThree fans were said to be suing RockrnNewman and perhaps Madison SquarernGarden, too. Lou Duva, the 74-year-oldrntrainer, was released from the hospital afterrna night. There were reports that Duvarnwould be suing Newman as well, andrnin an interview Duva affirmed thatrn”Rock Newman does not belong in boxing.”rnIt is interesting that Golota’s entirerncamp was given ten “credentials”—identityrnpasses—including the fighter himself,rnthe four cornermen, and Duva’srndaughters and son; Bowe’s entouragernhad more than 200! (I wonder howrnmany of them had prison records.) Duva,rnat the press conference, staged arndemonstration of the strength of thernprotective steel cup which boxers wear; arnyoung man was hit in the cup with arnbaseball bat and did not flinch—obviouslyrnBowe’s acting had been even betterrnthan I had imagined. Lastly, a glance atrnthe New York State Boxing Commissionrnrules shows that a boxer cannot win arnfight through having taken enough lowrnblows. What is obvious is that if thernfight had proceeded to its climax, andrnGolota had won, the crowd would havernreacted even more violently. Perhaps thernreferee stopped the fight because Golotarncould not have been allowed to win. Ahrnwell, once you have paid him the Danegeld,rnyou never get rid of the Dane.rnMark Racho is a writer living inrnManhattan.rn42/CHRONICLESrnrnrn