Golota's Inactivity Before Lewis...

I don't think so. The official excuse was that he had taken a shot of lidocaine to his knee before the fight, but who knows...

You are right he didn't fight for almost one year, personally I don't think it was a factor here. That only means he had no official fights, but doesn't say anything if he was training all the time or partying and getting fat. He always looked in shape, so I guess if he was inactive it was in different sense than for example Toney.

Not much. OK, he was down in the second fight (after something that looked like a rabbit punch BTW), but apart from this moment it was mostly target practice for him. He looked more hurt against Pouha.

 

His problem is defense--he's open for big shots from big punchers. And if he does get hurt, he doesn't have the tools to survive against the finishers. He also doesn't handle the pressure of a big event very well & anyway you slice it, that's a big disadvantage facing guys like Tyson > that Lewis debacle.

 

Re. Foreman-Golota...

Watching the three Bowe-Golota and Lewis-Golota fights back-to-back once, the main thing that was impressed on me was speed.

Bowe was perfectly capable of landing big booming shots on Golota, hurting and knocking him down, but wasn't capable of putting together enough big shots quickly enough.

With Lewis, when he had that opening, he bulldozes Golota with repeated shots. Just pebbledashes him down. Though Golota made it back up it was basically all over then.

Foreman could really hit but he didn't string them together much. So while I expect Golota could get spooked and go into his shell from some of George's attacks, I reckon he's got a pretty good chance of not getting knocked out. You tended to really need a barrage to bowl him over.

Just some thoughts to throw into the mix.

 

On Golota: i think the first Bowe fight was a relatively easy night for him, but during the second fight he did take a lot of punishment and suffered a horrific cut under his lip, among others.

 

Hmm...not sure.

I do know that he was due to fight Ray Mercer in early 97. I think Ray's hepatitis screwed that up though.

 

When some guys get hit hard, they look completely out of it. Similar to the way professional wrestlers look when they are pretending to be dazed. Golota is not one of those guys. Golota looks like he takes a shot fairly well, knows where he is, and doesn't like the way it feels. His nostrils flare, and looks as though he wants nothing more than to get the hell out of there. I saw that look against Lewis, against Tyson, and remember knowing he wasn't going last against Brewster when I saw him make that face in their meeting as well.

When Golota is in with an exceptional hitter bringing the heat it just looks as if something inside him says, "**** this. We're going home." I don't believe it has much to do with how active he's been professionally.

 

Golota doesn't have a fighter's temperament but going as far as having bi polar problems I don't know, boxing is such a high pressure sport that it exposes every little flaw and weakness whether physical or mental in my opinion.

 

I saw Andrew two hours before the Lewis fight; he was out of his mind with anxiety...and God knows what else. Mentally, the guy was never in the fight. Physically--look at the video of the bout again, he was not hurt by the punches from Lennox, at least not to the degree where he couldn't have gotten up.

Golota has to go down as one of the finest examples of wasted talent in heavyweight history. Had he been equipped with the right mental attributes he could have been champ for a long time.

 

I have a fairly good grasp on the sport of boxing, but more than a passing familiarity with aberrant behavior/markers. The guy was not in his right mind and never should have been allowed to enter the ring.

Beyond my own visual observations I have nothing to buttress this opinion, so...nope, no other stories to share ;-)