How Andrew Golota was fooled two times on boxing champion belt (Golota vs Ruiz & Byrd) video

Golota had no head movement and was always on the centre line open to straight shots which were Lennox Lewis`s speciality.

 

There have been a good amount of solid Polish fighters in the professional ranks but I am sure you would agree with me when I say there is still history to be made in that area. Poland has produced only a handful of elite fighters at best (with Michalczewski, prime Golota, and a prime Adamek exceptions to the rule). Yes, Hall of Famers Stanley Ketchel, Tony Zale, Teddy Yarosz, Joe Choynski, among other prizefighters, all had Polish ancestry but the disconnect is that they are among many boxers who the American public may not know are even Polish (and of course, all four fought under the U.S. flag). Visibility, crossover appeal, support, and communist subjugation are the contributing factors to this study (i.e. the reasons why Poland's fighting bulldogs have been unable to connect with Americans as other ethnic groups). Generally speaking Polish pugilists have not enjoyed the same success nor have been as visibile as some other ethnic groups including Irish, Italian, and Jewish populations which were woven throughout the fabric of professional boxing.

In my assessment, no current active Polish boxer will win a world title. Ethnic fans will have to wait at least a few years if not longer before one of their own takes home top honors. Aside from that, a glimmer of hope lurks in the Windy City of Chicago, Illinois, once home to the most Poles outside of Warsaw, where undefeated hard-hitting prospect Nick Mazurek plies his trade in hopes of one day entering the prize ring. Competing in boxing's heaviest weight class, scoring a divisional crown would make Mazurek the first Polish heavyweight champion in history, some say. Would it really? Well, what it's going to boil down to is how much Mazurek expresses his Polish heritage. If he gets the white eagle (the national emblem) sewn onto his trunks, I think at that point he would probably gain full acceptance by ethnic fanbases here stateside and overseas as the first full-fledged Polish heavyweight champion of the world. Mazurek already has his last name going for him, now it's up to him to stand by his ethnic roots in order to be recognized by a proud boxing nation (Nick has said in an interview that one day he will fight in Poland) as their first heavyweight king. Unless, of course, Izu Ugonoh beats him to it. Admittedly, however, the hype surrounding Mazurek has always escaped me.

In closing, I think Golota will become more and more appreciated with the passage of time and while he was not immortalized à la a heavyweight belt, I see him being immortalized on the big screen one day. That will be his just due.

 

Don't you mean robbed

 

Yes, he meant to say robbed. While we're on the topic, what do you think,
was Golota indeed robbed in either bout or both? Did he deserve the nod against Byrd and/or Ruiz? Sorry if you've already expressed your opinion on this. I just can't recall at the moment.

And where do you rate Andrew in the pantheon of some of the great Polish fighters of our recent era?