GREENBELT, Md., Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Former heavyweight boxing champion Riddick Bowe has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to avoid more than $4.1 million in claims against him.
Bowe, 38, of Fort Washington, Md., filed Saturday in Greenbelt, Md., just before tougher federal bankruptcy rules went into effect Monday, The Washington Times reported.
Bowe listed Commerce Funding Corp., Vienna, Va., as his biggest creditor with a disputed debt of $3 million.
A Fairfax County, Va., judge this summer ordered Bowe to pay more than $2.4 million to Commerce Funding. Commerce Funding claimed Bowe defaulted on financing for Unlimited Security, which was run by Bowe's friend and boxing promoter Jeffrey Jackson.
Unlimited Security guarded numerous federal buildings before its liquidation this year.
"I got burned," the boxer told the newspaper referring to the $2 million he loaned Unlimited Security between 2000 and 2002.
Attorney Paul Nussbaum said Bowe's Chapter 11 filing would allow him to restructure his debt and focus on his boxing comeback.
The debit includes more than $1 million to Fremont Investment & Loan and Mercedes-Benz Credit Corp.
