How much did Andrew Golota redeem himself in his 2000s comeback

Awesome question.He fought Tyson in 2000-10-20 and his comeback was in 2003-08-14.
Golota could change everything he looked total shot.

 

I give him credit, the Byrd fight was great, I thought it was a draw, I thought he deserved the decision against Ruiz. Mollo was a great fight for him, he gutted it out against a young up and comer. Of course Brewster blew him away in 53 seconds, and Austin jumped on him quick and Golota couldn't come out for the second round.
I tend to criticize Golota a lot because he was so close to victory in both Bowe fights and against Michael Grant.
His comeback did indeed show redemption, he didn't foul out or quit, but I still think he showed he was mentally fragile getting blown out by Brewster and Austin, and by the time he fought Adamek and Saleta he was well past his prime.

 

Golota got injured in the first round with Austin and after being examined by the ring doctor following the opening round, the Pole was forced to quit. That shoulder injury was no joke. Get a load of the pic below as proof. This injury speaks to biology, not Andrew's mental fragility. Biology because Andrew nearly 41 years of age at the time, and the older he got the more injury-prone he became.

http://larrybrownsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/andrew-golota-arm-bicep-injury.jpg

 

Absolutely. Golota bounced back in the second half of his career and won dignity after developing a negative and rough reputation the first half of his career. One has to give the Pole credit for being able to deal with his mental issues in the ring. Since fighting Tyson, Golota proved many times that he had changed and the quitting and fouling were behind him. Many experts think that he won his title bouts with Byrd and Ruiz; look at Andrew's match with Kevin McBride where the Chicago-based fighter was seriously hurt in the first round and then managed to knock McBride out in six, or the duel with Mike Mollo where Golota was fighting basically with one eye. If he was not a warrior in these fights then I don't know who was.

If Golota had snatched a belt before it was all done, then his run would have gone down as one of the greatest stories of redemption and inspiration in heavyweight boxing history. It would have been in the same pantheon as Braddock, Foreman, and Douglas. Golota's career could have finished as the ultimate redemption and storybook ending in not only boxing history, but perhaps all of sports.

 

Wow, thanks for the pic, was that a bicep tear?

 

Is he had actually the title then yes he would have been redeemed.

 

I think he was a bit of a bully.
Byrd and Ruiz weren't intimidating hard-hitting heavyweights. Byrd was a smallish light puncher. Ruiz was a medium sized heavyweight who liked to grab and spoil.

Throw him in with hard-hitting Brewster and he crumbled in the first round again.

 

Yeah, Golota suffered tendon tears (multiple) near that left bicep seen in the pic.

 

Bump

 

He didn’t really prove anything that wasn’t known.

He did okay against two guys with limited power in Ruiz and Byrd, but didn’t do enough to force the judges to make him the winner.

And he got blown away by the big puncher he fought (Brewster) in seconds.

Pretty much par for the course.

 

He redeemed himself to some extent in my eyes.

Chris Byrd was the second best in the world, when he held him to a draw.

He deserved teh nod against Ruiz in my opinion, which would have made him a belt holder.

Thee wee a few quips at the time, that the division was going to come down to Golota and McCall.

 

Golota's comeback was often frustrating because he was viewed as such a screwup that he didn't get much slack.

I thought Andrew Golota proved inside the ring that he was a better fighter than Riddick Bowe (twice), Michael Grant, Chris Byrd and John Ruiz.

But because he was mentally unstable in some way (in the Bowe and Grant fights) or because the judges simply blew it (against Byrd and Ruiz) ... he ended up with no wins in those five fights.

So Golota will always be a question mark.

If he'd gotten the wins over Bowe twice, Byrd, Grant and John Ruiz ... and won the IBF and WBA belts in the process ... he's remembered completely differently. He certainly appeared to be the better fighter against all of them in the actual fights.

But, when you screw up a few big opportunities through your own fault (the Bowe fights and the Grant fight) ... often the breaks (or bad decisions in Byrd and Ruiz fights) start going against you even when you show up and do just fine.

Very frustrating career, overall.

Could've realistically finished with record of 46-5 and been a two-belt champ.

 

He's a Kenny Norton type guy. Stay away from the hitters so his defense does not show the flaws. Put him in with the boxers and he will make a good account of himself.

 

Shot, one-handed Golota arguably beat Ruiz and Byrd. Such a shame he couldn't find his grit earlier.