What tends to be forgotten in assessing Andrew Golota is his actual performances in his two Bowe fights and the Grant fight. Grant was highly touted at the time and Bowe was still considered by some to be the uncrowned champ. Golota led both fighters until his brain explosions. How highly do you rate him as an effective technician?
Golota possessed outstanding skills unfortunately he also possessed a ten cent brain. His chin was only average as well. But his movement, his jab, his combination punching were all elite.
Yea he had some talent, but the dude was a LUNATIC, and all in all, just slow and not very bright.. He would have been a better toughman/Bar fighter, or in a Environment with no rules and regulations....
There's an argument to say he actually peaked in the Bowe fights and that those two WARS took a lot out of him. We will never know. Of course, the problem with Golota at that "peak", is he managed to lose those fights. The real disgrace was that he was rewarded with a crack at the WBC title. atsch
He was clearly talented and skilled with a good jab, decent combinations and varied his work to the head and body nicely. You can see why he won bronze at the Olympics as an amateur, the ability was clearly there and had things been a little different he would have 2 wins over Bowe and wins over Grant, Ruiz and Byrd. But he wasn't the biggest puncher despite his size and he was susceptible to punchers early on and while he did show heart in the 2nd fight with Bowe where he had his jaw broken, he was mentally fragile as shown in the fights with Bowe and Grant. He never wanted to be a pro boxer and it showed. He went to America to escape a possible assault charge and to become a truck driver and only turned pro to make money when he couldn't find work. He feared getting hurt and whenever under pressure would mentally crumble and look for a way out. He also suffered a shoulder injury which ruined his jab. Not sure when this occurred may have been at the end of 99 when he had a car crash or perhaps after the Tyson fight when he was out of the ring for 3 years but it was clear his jab wasn't the same when he fought Ruiz and Byrd. He was clearly good enough to win a title but was unlucky with the injury and decisions and he just didn't have the mental fortitude to ever be a long reigning title holder. It's a real shame you look at his skills and in today's era he would stand out clearly above everyone but Wlad.
He was certainly injury prone and that led to some bad outings. He would have still found a way to lose, but shame how the Lewis fight went down. Bad knee or not, stupid to let a doctor dope you up with Lidocaine before a title fight.
As a technician he was good. Golota was the foul king with limited heart. He bite to prevent him being knocked down ( Pohua fight ) and possibly out, and head butted ( Nicholson ) in a fight he had in the bag. Nicholson did not recover from the head butt and was taken out in the next round.
Great fighter under enormous pressure prone to errors in judgement and losing focus. At his best he showed greatness. Plenty of greatness.
Golota in my view on a good night with his mind right could be a tough challenge for pretty well anyone the problem is Golota's mind never seemed to be right. I thought he looked excellent in the Bowe fights, better then he looked in any fights before or after. Bowe was clearly faded at the time but I still feel on those nights he would've still had enough to win against most contenders but Golota was able to pummel him in both awesome fights only to break mentally and in my view purposely be DQ'd at least in the second fight. After the fight with Bowe, I don't feel Golota ever looked that good again though he had a few other decent performances later on he could've been given the nod in his world title bid against John Ruiz and certainly against Chris Byrd. I feel the Bowe fights along with the Lewis fight messed Golota up further mentally which ultimately led to his boxing performance dropping. One thing I'm curious about and was considering making a thread on was about the Lewis vs Golota fight... What was the build up like for this fight? I could imagine after putting those beatings on Bowe some people must have thought pretty highly of Golota and the controversy in both fights I'd imagine would bring even more attention to him... Who did most people seem to be favoring?.. Also do you think Golota had he not got starched could've been a threat to Lewis's title? Apparently he took some kind of pain killer which affected his performance in the fight which is 100% his fault and further underlines his mental issues... Personally even if that was the case I feel Lewis still would've beat his ass even on his best night... Golota may do well for a few rounds but I don't see him having the mental fortitude to deal with a champion like Lewis in his prime who not only had great skills and could put a serious hurting on you but had the kinda determination that Golota lacked....
There's not many big guys who were able to bob n weave like Golota could. He was an all rounder. Not many guys since have the skills he possessed. He was just unfortunate to fight in a very competitive era. He'd be a top 10 ATG if he fought in today's era.
He lacked inside skills, but other than that was a badass technically for his size.Smooth mover, good combinations and punch variety, great jab, accuracy etc Golota with the mentality of...well just about any solid mentally tough fighter would have been a really good fighter.As it was though, just a hugely flawed headcase that would be lucky to beat any very good heavy at their best.
Golota and Bowe ruined each other, plain and simple. I really don't think either man had much to offer after their two fights. If ever a fighter reach his peak and went over the hill in one fight, it was Golota in that first Bowe fight.
