Bowe-Golota I & 2...WHAT HAPPENED, BIG DADDY?

Some fighters just lose it overnight as the saying goes. Saad ( Matt Franklin) is a perfect example. Same happened to Bowe IMO. Curry Mugabi Benitez all took a steep dive. Something in there genetic makeup I guess

 

Or maybe Golota was a bit better than people give him credit for and Bowe a little worse?

 

Bowe wasn’t washed up in the first fight. He was overweight, like he was prone to do, especially when he probably didn’t regard Golota as any type of threat. Golota had a deep amateur background though, was polished and had excellent speed of both hand and foot.
Bowe was surprised, i’m Sure many were with how good Golota was when first watching that fight. I know I was. And I had watched two Golota fights before that bout.
So I don’t think Bowe was washed up for the first fight, I think he was under prepared and over confident. He just ran into a good opponent. And Bowe looked for a way out in that bout.
Then the riot occurred.
I think Bowe was highly embarrassed by his performance and the aftermath, and over compensated, he came in so lean for the rematch for him, it was way too much of a weight loss for someone like him so quickly. Right from the opening bell he looked weak. To his credit (and detriment) he showed tremendous heart in this bout and nearly finished Golota in round 4. However Bowe sustained a terrible beating in this bout. This fight destroyed the remainder of his career and at, at least two different occasions I thought the referee should of stopped it and saved Bowe from taking anymore punishment. I can’t recall the times but I believe one was the end of the 7th round, was it weeks the ref? I forget but I remember watching the end of the round saying please walk Bowe to the corner and pull the plug on this, he was taking savage punishment.
Ruined the man, his speech was badly damaged and his livihood taking away.
Golota carried on proving he was a nut job but also finding some success and being on the wrong end of some decisions that would of enhanced his legacy (I thought he should of been the victor in both the Byrd draw and Ruiz loss, although I don’t view them as robberies) and having a decent career.

 

I think fighting a live body his own size really illustrated how poor the Bowe defense actually was. Golata never looked better against anyone and he hardly missed a punch.

I like Riddick when he has the built in advantages. In the Golata fight he had none of that so he was hit easily with jabs/countered to death/just everything he did he was right in the wheelhouse of the other guy. The bout also showed how poor the footwaork was of Bowe and he was made to look like a plodder trying to chase down a guy like Golata===who was no Larry Holmes in the mobility department.

So fatal flaws in his game surfaced against an opponent that really went into the bout as a big underdog. It was not as if Andrew was the star of the stable--that was Tua. And Andrew came into that bout off the Nicholson and 4 round war with the guy he bit. So another 1 of those usa cable heavies that up to that point tended to lose badly when they tried stepping up. So not a real big threat to the Bowe camp and anyway you want to look at it, still should have made for an easy night's work.

 

But, exactly this. Bowe is really good when beating on smaller guys or featherfists. He was a decent boxer and a high level close quarters guy. Smaller guys were up **** creek against him. But put a big guy with skills and power against him and suddenly he's not that impressive after all. Golota absolutely dismantled him with the jab. I shudder to think what Wlad or Lennox would have done. Had he lost a step by the Golota fight? Yeah, I think its fair to say so. But it wasn't a big drop in form by any means, he wasn't shot or anything.

 

I will say this, though. Golota looked really good against Bowe and probably better than I've ever seen him. I think that you could make the argument he lost his edge after those two fights as well. It's not as though he did all that damage unscathed himself. Something to think about.

 

Jorge Gonzalez was bigger than both Bowe and Golota. The fight proved what a motivated Bowe who was out to prove something was capable of.
Gonzalez never landed a punch and was battered pillar to post from long range and short range.

A prime fired up Golota eventually had to resort to low blows to compete with a disinterested Bowe. When it became to much he quit.
Low blows from a HW tend to have a debilitating effect and were thrown by Golota purely for that reason.

No low blows and Bowe is a lot more energetic and grows stronger by the round. Thats what Golota was afraid of.

The Bowe of the Holyfield fights runs terror through Golota and he likely combines neck bites with low blows to get out of the fight sooner.

And Gonzalez was an Olympic pedigree out boxer with a jab and right hand. Upright with no inside game. Just like both Klitchko's.
You can look at that fight to see what Bowe would have done to either Wlad or Vitali.

 

Golota was very good when he had his original team. Big strong pretty fundamentally sound just weak in his mental make up when things didnt go his way. None of this is new news though. I'm inclined to believe Bowe really dropped off while Golota was at his best.

 

I watched both bouts live.
Bowe physically just did not seem “right” for either bout. He was obviously ill prepared for fight one. He looked skimmed down in fight two but appeared weak/drained from the get-go. Almost as if he dieted but did little actual training. He appeared eons away from the Bowe who fought Holyfield.

 

Insightful post !

 

Gonzalez was no good and was a train wreck waiting to happen. All he had to do was fight a live body and not ancient renaldo Snipes type opposition.

His form was horrible and the guy is lucky he had a solid promotion behind him. Speaking of which, that gonzalez contract and career has seen the sport drop that kind of contract.

 

Gonzalez beat both Bowe and Lennox in the amateurs. He had very basic but solid fundamentals. Once Bowe battered him he was never the same. He got the first Lacey and Bute treatment.
stlye wise he was very like vITALI Klitchko.
Popular youtube commentator points out their similarities a well. timestamped.

This content is protected

 

Gonzales never progressed as a pro. He always was an amateur level talent.