This guy had skils, but his fragile mind was his undoing. If (big If) he could have mentally been 100%, how good could he have been? Could he have beaten Tyson, Lewis, Holyfield and others or is that too much of a stretch? I think he had great hand speed for a guy his size.
He could have beaten Bowe, but still would've been blown out by Lewis and Tyson. He could've won a belt against Byrd or Ruiz which would have prolonged the DK round robin. Golota's upright style lent itself to him getting bombed out, regardless of mental state.
Golota was a big, strong guy who had a very good skill set, good all around- could do it all. He looked so good in the bowe fights that many experts tought of him as the best hw around, even favoring him over lewis. I think he would have beat the klitschko brothers, at least the version from the bowe fights
Not a chance in hell. Watch the Samson Pouha fight. Same version as the guy who showed up for Bowe got rocked because he stands upright and doesn't see certain punches coming.
Was he supposed to fight in a crouch? Lewis, Vit, Wlad and even old Foreman fought pretty stand up at many times. Golota was a gym demon, looked like Superman, but he couldn't handle pressure, both in and out of the ring and physically was always a bit lumbering. A guy who loved being the bully but could get psyched out before the fight or in deep waters.
Upright? I saw some nice head movement, ducking, rolling and slipping demonstrated in the bowe fight... Some nice defensive moves.
I'm talking about his posture. He stood like he had a metal rod in his neck with a chin rest. As a result, he'd get drilled by punches, namely left hooks and overhand rights above the ear, and would go down, herniate disks in his neck, etc. If he could've tucked his chin in and rolled with punches better, he would've been a lot more formidable. I can't say Bowe of the Golota fights would've been able to beat a prime Michael Grant. I'm not sold on that version of Bowe other than his heart.
As others have said, Lewis and Tyson likely would have still rolled through him. Ditto for Wladimir K. Vitali probably would have been a longer, more drawn out fight, with Klitschko taking over as they fight went on. I think he would have beaten the other contenders/also rans of the late 1990s and early 2000s. That includes Frans Botha, David Tua (can't rule out a knockout for Tua though), Oquendo, etc. Corrie Sanders would have been toxic for him though. With Golota it was more than just mental problems. He seemed wracked by bad luck in general. The Ray Austin fight, the Saleta fight, the Brewster fight, all kind of mirror each other in that Golota was unusually prone to suffering indignity, even outside of his mental problems.
He would have picked up a belt in the 80 s I'm pretty sure. He had decent skills, good right, jab and strong. Confidence wise, not the strongest, was prone to panic attacks and anxiety. He was fighting in the 90 s, a era full of big punchers so he struggled. In the 80 s against a smith, berbick or a tate, at some point he would have won a version of the title.
