Golota was the best HW to never win a title.

[MAG1965]

Originally Posted by locard

This man disagrees

http://jumpingpolarbear.files.wordpr...6/davidtua.jpg

exactly. Golota vs. Tua would have been great.

[Rumsfeld]

Originally Posted by Vysotsky

I agree it was nowhere near as quick, sharp or powerful and was far less than it used to be but it was still an effective tool even against guys like Byrd and Ruiz, Ruiz himself having a quality jab.

As I recall, Golota jabbed extremely well against Byrd for the first six or seven rounds. When he came back and fought Brian Nix and Terrence Lewis, I thought he had some surgery done? I could be wrong. But his jab when he came back in 2003 had more speed and consistency than it did in his fights with Rhode, Norris, and Tyson (all post-Grant/post-accident). Whatever the case may be, his jab was looking quicker but far less powerful 2003 into 2004. If I'm not mistaken Golota hurt his left arm/hand/shoulder/something in the Byrd fight, and he stopped jabbing over the final six rounds. That made them a judging nightmare, because they were close rounds that were actually quite entertaining.

I think Golota was fucked up against Ruiz. I don't remember him working the jab much at all in that fight, though I have not seen that once since it aired live. Wasn't he fucked up? I remember reading something from Colona that said Andrew was in immense pain preparing for that one, and they'd consider canceling it except they knew the stakes and knew they may not get another title shot. Anyone remember something like that? Or if Golota used his jab much against Ruiz?

But back to the other point, Golota did have a real nice left hook that complimented his jab and (pre-Lewis) a powerful right with deceptive hand speed. He never committed to his punches quite the same way after the Bowe fights, and his hands never quite seemed as quick fluid as they did previously. Even in Grant he seemed (to me) to lose a great deal of speed, but his jab was still a powerful tool that was very effective.

But after Grant, he looked pretty bad in those 3 fights with Certo....well, 2 of the 3, can't count the Rhode one in China.

[Rumsfeld]

Originally Posted by JPV

Tua was way better then mental patient Golota.

Originally Posted by MAG1965

exactly. Golota vs. Tua would have been great.

Word is that Golota consistently got the best of Tua when they used to spar together, and that the two of them reportedly had a few really good gym wars.

Not that this has any real bearing on what would happen in a professional match, but something I always found interesting.

[Theron]

Originally Posted by Vysotsky

Tell that to all the HW's he destroyed and Jack Johnson who was scared as fuck of him.

Um k man i agree i wasn't saying anything bad about him....
I was saying he wasn't even a true heavyweight and was avoided by the best heavies which shows how great he really was...
Why so quick to argue brah, chill out

[dyna]

Originally Posted by MAG1965

exactly. Golota vs. Tua would have been great.

They had sparred, Golota started low blowing Tua because he got frustrated because he couldn't hurt the Samoan.
It would have end like the Bowe fights would have.

[Uncle Roger]

Originally Posted by Dorfmeister

No he wasn't. There were fighters who had a lot and never won a Championship like Razor Ruddock, Ike Ibeabushi, David Tua, Carl Williams, Tyrell Biggs, Luan Krasniqi and others.

Luan Krasniqui...

Carl Williams

[Joe.Boxer]

Golota did the best interviews in boxing.

[JETSKI]

Originally Posted by Ashstrodamus

What a disappointment. Biggest waste of talent ever. He matured way too late. Pre-injury, he had the best jab I had ever seen.

True...very true. Don't get me started again about Golota.

[JETSKI]

Originally Posted by Rumsfeld

As I recall, Golota jabbed extremely well against Byrd for the first six or seven rounds. When he came back and fought Brian Nix and Terrence Lewis, I thought he had some surgery done? I could be wrong. But his jab when he came back in 2003 had more speed and consistency than it did in his fights with Rhode, Norris, and Tyson (all post-Grant/post-accident). Whatever the case may be, his jab was looking quicker but far less powerful 2003 into 2004. If I'm not mistaken Golota hurt his left arm/hand/shoulder/something in the Byrd fight, and he stopped jabbing over the final six rounds. That made them a judging nightmare, because they were close rounds that were actually quite entertaining.

I think Golota was fucked up against Ruiz. I don't remember him working the jab much at all in that fight, though I have not seen that once since it aired live. Wasn't he fucked up? I remember reading something from Colona that said Andrew was in immense pain preparing for that one, and they'd consider canceling it except they knew the stakes and knew they may not get another title shot. Anyone remember something like that? Or if Golota used his jab much against Ruiz?

But back to the other point, Golota did have a real nice left hook that complimented his jab and (pre-Lewis) a powerful right with deceptive hand speed. He never committed to his punches quite the same way after the Bowe fights, and his hands never quite seemed as quick fluid as they did previously. Even in Grant he seemed (to me) to lose a great deal of speed, but his jab was still a powerful tool that was very effective.

But after Grant, he looked pretty bad in those 3 fights with Certo....well, 2 of the 3, can't count the Rhode one in China.

I was at the Garden for this fight. Was sure it was the night AG would win the HW Title. He was on his way to victory after dropping Ruiz twice in the 2nd round(?). Then, mid way through the fight, he just got into a wrestling match with that clown & just stopped being active with his punches. He let Ruiz back into the fight & even got blasted a few shots by Ruiz & the judges just went for the guy who was more active at the end.

DAMNIT!!!

Remember this, after the 1st Bowe fight in the riot?


[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

[madballster]

Talent is rather meaningless in sports and a high degree of talent is not highly correlated with success at a sport (or any other profession).

A high degree of discipline, mental toughness, IQ and a great work ethic are though.

Golota may habe been talented but he had the IQ of a 5 year old. That's why he never amounted to more than a decent contender.

[madballster]

Originally Posted by Uncle Roger

Luan Krasniqui...

Krasniqui was highly talented. Wonze Bronze in the Olympics if I am not mistaken, I think he beat Vitali in the amateurs.

What Krasniqi was lacking was the mental toughness to make it in the pros. He quit against Saleta and was unable to ever fully recover from that. He had been plagued by lack of self-confidence ever since. Compare that to Vitali who quit against Byrd but was able to come back from that embarrassing loss.

[Rob]

Originally Posted by locard

This man disagrees

http://jumpingpolarbear.files.wordpr...6/davidtua.jpg

Thank youuu that was the only reason i came to this thread.

[Abdullah]

MANY were greater than Golota.

[Big Left Hook]

He's definatly up there, when he was on point he was a really dangerous guy

[Theron]

You could have all the talent in the world but if you don't want to fight don't have the determination and mentality then it's pointless