At 27, Bowe (34-1, 29 KOs) was a former heavyweight champion ranked No. 4 by the IBF.
Mathis (14-0, 3 KOs), 24, was ranked No. 7 by the IBF and No. 8 by the WBA. The physical difference was obvious. Standing around 6’0″, Mathis fought from a deep crouch while trying to make himself a difficult target for the much taller Bowe.
The early rounds belonged to the former champion, whose jab and heavier punches gave Mathis trouble. The smaller heavyweight moved his upper body, dipped low and occasionally countered, but he had difficulty getting away from Bowe’s offense for long.
During an exchange in the fourth, Mathis was hurt and tried to escape the attack. Bowe pursued him until Mathis eventually dropped to one knee near the center of the ring.
The punches didn’t stop. With Mathis already down, a powerful right hand caught him cleanly and sent him from his knee onto his back. Referee Arthur Mercante Sr. immediately intervened at 2:11 of the round.
There was no question that the final punch had landed illegally. The uncertainty concerned what officials were supposed to do about it.
The result wasn’t announced immediately. Mercante and New Jersey boxing officials spent several minutes discussing the finish while the crowd waited.
Disqualifying Bowe was one possibility. Giving him a knockout victory presented another obvious problem because the finishing punch had landed after Mathis was down. With the scheduled 10-round fight ending during the fourth, resolving the bout through the scorecards wasn’t a simple solution either. Officials eventually settled on a no contest.
Despite controlling the action, Bowe didn’t receive a victory. Mathis avoided having his first professional defeat recorded. Bowe remained 34-1, while Mathis stayed 14-0.
Mercante considered the punch intentional but did not believe the circumstances justified disqualification. The unusual compromise satisfied few people in the building, and boos followed the announcement.
Afterward, Bowe apologized and maintained that Mathis’ extremely low fighting position contributed to the mistake. Mathis had spent much of the fight crouching beneath Bowe’s punches, making the transition from his normal defensive posture to having a knee on the canvas less obvious than it might have been against another opponent.
Still, the replay left little room for argument. Mathis was down when the punch landed.
The no contest ultimately did little to derail Bowe’s comeback. Later in 1994, he defeated Larry Donald by unanimous decision. In March 1995, he stopped Herbie Hide to capture the WBO heavyweight title.
His biggest remaining victory came later that year in a third fight with Holyfield. After surviving serious trouble, Bowe stopped his longtime rival in the eighth round.
The Mathis fight became an unusual stop between two major phases of Bowe’s heavyweight career. He had already been undisputed champion before losing his titles to Holyfield. His second run near the top was just beginning.
Against Mathis, the former champion showed he remained one of the division’s leading heavyweights. One illegal punch turned what looked like a routine comeback victory into a no contest.
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