Ruiz W12 Golota (2004): insights, comments?

Hard fight to watch, like most Ruiz fights. I had Golota up by a slim margin. the two kd's being the diffrence.

I also had him up 7-5 in Byrd fight which was a fun fight to watch and difficult to score.

If he had been credited with these two wins and not had fouled out against Bowe-he would be remembered as one of the better fighters of the 90s. Woulda, shoulda, coulda...
Tremendously talented big man. Also was way up on Grant and quit. Strange guy, strange career. The biggest what if-fighter of the 90s.

 

Don't remember much of this fight, very long time ago, im glad Ruiz won because Golota was a headcase....
As far as Ruiz manager goes, he was just a bitter phucker angry at the world, i think Ruiz fired him after this fight...
Ruiz didn't have a lot of talent, wasn't physically imposing, wasn't very fast and didn't really have a jab, but somehow found a way to win a lot of fights..

 

Golota was good to watch. He was a good all rounder and had more of a skill set than the HW champ today in my book.
He was a good mover and had all the physical tools and attributes.

The Corey Sanders fight was one of the greatest HW bouts ever. Watch that fight and see how far the division gone down the tube.

 

I remember having Golota winning over the great Ruiz.

 

If my memory serve me I had the fight close in rounds but the KD's made the difference, I thought Golota won this and I thought he should have gotten the nod over Byrd and I thought Oquendo beat Byrd as well.....Chris was trying to fight like a heavyweight and forgetting what made him beat Tua

 

I was at MSG for this fight. I was rooting for Golota, but I scored it for Ruiz. Obviously Andrew got off to a big start with the knockdowns, but after that Ruiz came on and I think took the rest of the fight. He essentially outworked him. It's one of those fights though, that if I watch it again on tape, I could end up seeing it the other way. A draw might have been fair.

 

I had Golota winning, he landed more punches, scored 2 knockdowns, and Ruiz was penalized one point. it's a hard fight to watch though, I scored it 4 rounds Golota 4 rounds Ruiz, and 4 rounds even. tha's a draw, but with Golota scoring 2 knockdowns, and Ruiz losing a point, Golota should have won the WBA belt that night.

 

Exactly - Golota didn't just win the fight, he won it CLEARLY. This fight was one of the worst robberies of the decade. Ruiz was knocked down twice, lost another point because of his illegal tactics and was outlanded. There is NO way he won more than six rounds. And even if you give him SEVEN rounds, he still loses.

Only in Don King's America do you get robberies like this. Without King, Ruiz would have just been another clubfighter.

 

Golota was entertaining and the Sanders fight is a classic. Just a very frustrating fighter because he could of been a top 5 guy for the 90s (or close to it) during a talented decade. Instead he is remembered (rightfully I guess) as a nut job and a quitter.

 

Golota in his prime to me looked very very good.

With the right head there is no telling how far he could have gone.

 

I agree, I also seem to be in the minority on this forum at least in that I think Ruiz edged it.

 

I think I scored it even or had Ruiz slightly ahead. People were saying Golota was robbed, but I don't see that. Ruiz came on stronger in the 2nd half. And the 2nd knockdown should not have counted. It wasn't a clean knockdown, Ruiz was off-balance/hurt and Golota sort of shoved him down, and then hit him when he was on the canvas.

It was entertaining in a strange way. Going in, one of the boxing magazine (I think The Ring) said it could be a "guilty pleasure" because of the dirty fighting and personalities, and I agree.

Norman Stone was hilarious. Coming across the ring and putting his fist up in a threatening matter towards Golota's trainer, and Golota's trainer just has this "WTF?" look on his face.

Then his priceless quote "What a piece of ---- you turned out to be!!!"

And in the locker room saying "I never said nothing to the referee!" followed by grumpy old Larry Merchant's cracking up.

 

I think he had an auto accident which badly injured his shoulder so he couldn't jab like he used to.

 

After a decent start Golata fell asleep and Ruiz just outhustled him for the rest of the fight.

No robbery here.

BTW , there is no "prime" Golata, he never ever won a meaningful fight against a quality opponent..........and Bowe don't count, he quit twice to escape getting knocked out.