What the hell happened to Golota???

Who knows but in fairness we don't know to what degree the dozen or so nasty shots he threw over multiple rounds impacted an already declining Bowe's performance.

Golota would just freeze up and shift gears. You could see ti on his face as it happened in fights. It would have vs Lewis after the first knockdown but Lennox gave him no chance to do so .. a really screwy fighter. Fairly certain PED's played some sort of role as well ..

 

Kind of reminded me of Berbick against Snipes too: https://streamable.com/ml73

 

He was in the wrong place to make that move. Golota needed his left foot to be close to the left foot of Lewis; by that I mean nearly in line, so that when he dips to his right, his head is outside the left shoulder of Lewis. That makes Lewis punch across his own body to land the right and opens up a counter right hand.

Standing dead center like that and dipping right is almost as obvious as painting a bullseye on your head. Especially against a tall guy like Lewis.

 

My sister spoke to Tyrell recently and she said
He thought he was a better fighter facing Bowe than he was at 15-0 facing Tyson . Biggs always says he so regrets getting involved with drugs which wrecked his potential and he always felt he was on a recovery mission.
It was after the Bowe fight that Tyrell ( Burt) went back off the rails ( with drink not drugs) and turned up looking 6 years older, 6 months later against Lewis , I know , I was there !

 

IIRC, Ruddock put himself in similar “please hit me” crosshairs against Lewis when he leaned over and threw a baby jab to the belly right in line for a right-hand counter.

 

Surprised how many posters over the years still don’t know how shot Bowe was by the time of the Golata fights.

 

He'd just kayoed Holyfield that doesn't seem like something a shot fighter would do

 

Holyfield was in not good health for that fight and was having heart problems and gassing.

Bowe used pills to lose weight for the second Golata fight

 

I wouldn't say that. Lou Duva molded Golota to fight in an all around American style that incorporated good upperbody movement and inside work.
He had the shoulder roll and the whole lot , even bobbed n weaved his way on the inside against Riddick Bowe.

Vitali was a boxing by numbers guy - simple jab cross , rince n repeat. Golota was a far more fluid fighter with more dimensions than Vitali.
He looked better against Byrd than Vitali did when he was old and past it cos he had the angles and inside game to touch up Byrd in close.
Prime Vitali hit air so much against Byrd he ended up popping his shoulder out of joint.

 

It’s hard to say. He looked very strong pummeling Gonzales a year earlier and then was the first man to ever KO Holyfield. Maybe all his poor living caught up with him fast as he looked shitty physically even before the opening bell.