***The Official Golota Express! Bowe-Golota II - 19 years ago today***

I really hope if Golota fights once more it's JUST once more and against a tomato can who has no hope of beating him.

The Golota Dream ended with the Brewster debacle. We didn't want to admit it then, but looking back it was over then.

As a long time fan I am grateful we got the two good efforts against Byrd and Ruiz (both still wins in my eyes) and the performance against Mollo was a great victory in which he dug down deep and overcame adversity against a local rival.

Golota, for all of his flaws, started putting it together mentally just before his skills all but totally disappeared (and he had a fast and rapid decline).

When he was in his physical prime, prior to the Grant fight, he just didn't have the maturity or the right state of mind. But that human angle of Golota, the flaws that he held, were part of what I believe wanted us to see him succeed so badly. He had all the tools to be champion. Bloodworth has stated this on a past episode of On the Ropes, and Duva, Colona, and Certo have all basically said the same.

Sadly, by the time he had his head on straight it was too late.

I hadn't posted in this thread in awhile, but an old Golota memory just occurred to me which actually made me chuckle.

A Polish buddy of mine and me were convinced Golota was going to destroy Lewis, and probably land a few low blows and elbows and headbutts in the process. It was inconceivable to think he could lose.

We set up a party of friends a night after my one friend's kid was born and we all bought the fight excited to watch Golota win his first championship. Why we were so convinced Golota would win, I have no idea!

95 seconds later it was like the biggest shock in the world.

In the post-interview, Lewis was dismissing Golota and my friend exclaimed, "HE JUST CALLED GOLOTA A 'MISFIT'!"



I don't know why that seems so funny to me know. I often laughed at things Lewis has had to say in post fight interviews (he had some especially good lines post-Tua when he said something to the effect, "It takes more than a left hook and a haircut to beat Lennox Lewis") :rofl

At the time, it was not funny at all though. I was in total shock.

Looking back on it, I still think this was arguably Lewis' best performance in his career that tends to be underrated because of Golota's history of mental issues, but physically he was super sharp in those two Bowe fights.

I'll always wonder why he didn't come out shooting the jab more aggressively in that one. I always wonder what may have happened if he unleashed an attack when he briefly had Lewis corned not long before getting pummeled by a right hand-left hook combo that caught Golota flush in a rapid back-to-back fire sequence. It was the best left hook Lennox ever landed in his career perhaps.

I can still envision scenarios where Golota could have won that fight. Unfortunately, he oftentimes started fights cold and this happened to him twice against guys like Lewis and Brewster where he just came out cold.

Anyway, back to modern times, Golota has nothing to prove.

Everyone criticized me at the time when I wrote this, but I still stand by every word of it!

:smoke

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=14129&more=1

 

My thoughts were exactly the same when I penned the piece referenced in my previous post.

Had he left after the Mollo fight, it would have been the ultimate high note to a long, interesting, frustrating career.