I think Toney makes Andrew look silly, Andrew empties his tank and then collapses mentally when he realises he can't knock out 'a middleweight' and gets stopped around the 5th with beautiful crisp counters that Toney walks him onto. And Golotta is looking for something to walk onto by that point...
Pre-Bowe Golota was a different animal. Think about it, he ended the career of the guy that Futch claimed to be his most talented disciple. But he paid the price for that and was never the same. Give me a Bowe 1 version of Golota and I would bet the mortgage on him to beat Toney from pillar to post.
Golota outworks Toney and wins a decision. Toney would probably look a bit beat up by the end, peak Golota would've been the best heavyweight he'd been in with by a country mile.
Bowe was shot when he fought Golota. His legs never looked right from the opening bell and his defense was non existent. Yes, I know Bowe was never a great defensive fighter but his reflexes and legs were long gone after the third fight with Holyfield. I think Toney clowns Golota. I remember how a past his prime Orlin Norris made Golota look silly at times in their fight. I mention Norris becasue he was 5'9 and stocky just like Toney. The only difference is Toney was a far better fighter than Norris ever was. Toney makes Golota pay with sharp counters over 12 rounds.
Bowe looked fine stopping Holy which was his career best result Who wasn't near prime was the Golota who fought Norris, but he still won a comfortable decision. Sam Peter wasn't half the boxer that Golota was in his prime and he beat Toney twice, the second time rather emphatically.
Career best result was the first Holyfield victory. He hardly gets credit for the rubber because people say Holys heart gave out. Bowe like Lewis against Vitali was career fattest in the 250s. Bowe thought Golota would be a push over. Prime is mental as well as physical.
Being the first man to stop Holyfield was Bowe's career best performance. Holy's alleged heart issue was 13 months before against Moorer. The docs got the dosage dialed in after that.
Toney probably didn’t have the power and physicality to really make Golota fold. Golota did well against Nicholson, Byrd, and Orlin Norris. It’s still Golota though so anything could happen.
You can clearly see how bad Bowe's legs were in the first fight with Golota. It's telling how slurred his speech was at that time and how really bad it is today. He only fought once more after the 2nd Golota fight. He was damaged goods and suffering from CTE. For what it's worth, Toney was not the same guy by the Peter fights either. He was way over weight and looked like ****. I do think Golota was a decent heavyweight skill wise but he was a head case and a cerebral fighter like Toney would have shredded him. It would have been fin to watch Toney countering and talking **** the whole time. I could definitely see Golota fouling the hell out of Toney. Lol
I'm glad you mentioned the Norris fight. You know I watched that fight a few years ago and that for me was a close fight. I had Golota winning but not by much only 6 rounds to 4 and barring in mind Norris was past his best at this point in his career. Andrew Golota vs Orlin Norris 1 Norris 2 Golota 3 Golota 4 Golota 5 Golota 6 Norris 7 Norris 8 Norris 9 Golota 10 Golota 96-94 Golota This was a good entertaining fight all the way through, Norris who was overweight at 230+. Pressured Golota the whole night jabbing at his body and chest and occasionally out jabbing the bigger man aswell, Norris also showed some nice defence slipping quite of Golota's punches and landing some nice counters aswell. Golota for the most part fought a mostly clean fight, and did some good work on the inside himself. And showed his underrated inside skills for a big man, i've always liked how Golota turned his shoulder on the inside that's what gave Bowe so much trouble aswell. Overall Golota won a close/competitive fight landing the more effective harder punches, alot of Norris's work while it was effective. His punches wern't really that hard although he definitely won rounds outworking Golota. My final thoughts is how underrated is Norris ? he was unlucky not to beat Tony Tucker, and has a few decent scalps beating McCall, Page, Ferguson. The fact that Norris was 5'9 and overweight, and still pushed a big 6'4 Heavyweight like Golota all the way shows how good Norris could be. Lastly two of the judges scorecards in this fight were a disgrace 99-91, 98-92, for Golota ? one judge had it pretty reasonable at 97-94 but the other two were way off the mark.
Holyfield looked poor in the 3rd Bowe fight apparently he had Heptatis B. Whatever it was Holyfield's energy levels looked zapped after only 2 rounds and even the commentators were mentioning Holyfield looks like a shot fighter. Yes Holyfield did drop Bowe with a left hook out of nowhere but the fact he didn't have the energy to follow it up when Bowe was basically out on his feet speaks volumes. Bowe was already starting to slur his words and he was just fortunate that for whatever reason Holyfield was poor in their 3rd fight.
I remember thinking Golota won but it was close and Norris had a lot of success considering he was really past his prime. Norris was a tricky guy to fight for sure. He was very unlucky to not get the win against Vassily Jirov when they fought a few years after the Golota fight.
