***The Official Golota Express! Bowe-Golota II - 19 years ago today***

That 'fight' wasn't quite what I expected. It really looked like both fighters were told to go 'easy' on each other, or as Brisback said, like a staged performance.

Oh well, Golota has taken enough punches to the head for his fans over the last two decades. At 46 years old, if this exhibition bout was what he needed to finally leave boxing happy then I'm happy for him. Let's allow him that.

So the Golota legacy can be summed up as followed:

He gave us two of the most exciting bouts in the history of boxing against Bowe (complete with riot for encore). These two epic battles will what he will mostly be remembered for.

After humiliating himself against Lewis and Tyson he returned to boxing to become the unofficial two time HW champion against Byrd and Ruiz.

After yet another meltdown against Brewster, at 40 years old he once again returned with a heroic win against hometown rival Mollo, an opponent who most thought would wax Golota in the first round. Instead he schooled Mollo Cyclops style with just one eye. As Rums has said, this SHOULD have been his final bout and to me I'll always consider it his farewell fight, everything after was just another example of an old has been needing to get the sport beaten out of them.

Plus he gave the boxing world a number of other exciting fights against Po'uha, Sanders, Grant, McBride etc.


It was a long near two decades, crazy train ride. There is no other sport that gave me the rush I got the week build up for a Golota fight. The old Golota ring walks to the Polish national anthem while his fans cheered him on were truly poetic.

GO GOLOTA

:happy

 

After watch the 'fight' I get the feeling had Doc actually tried he very well may have done just that. :!:

 

Yeah it really looked like Doc had much more in the tank at his age then Golota. Much faster and quicker feet. There was a lot of body shots, which leads me to believe that was part of the agreement.

In true Golota fashion there were a couple times he caught Doc pretty decently in the last 2 rounds, but nothing enough to wobble him and Golota didn't follow up with much.

After hearing some of the pre fight interviews with McCall, my only concern is that Oliver will try to get a payday out of a Golota fight.

 

Yep I noticed there was almost nothing but body shots thrown as well, no doubt this was a staged match.

Golota would have to be a damned fool to get in the ring with McCall looking the way he did. It's like he literally moves in slow motion. The thing is, just last year when he fought Saleta I thought Golota fought pretty well given his age. I guess the extra weight really slowed him down big time. But I've seen a lot of fat guys move way faster than that.

But with all that said, I'm convinced this wasn't even a real fight. Can't really gauge Golota's current skill level in a staged exhibition bout. But I'm almost certain he'd get dropped dropped in one by the Atomic Bull.

 

I think peeps here are a bit too conspiratorial given what I saw. Boh fighters are old and it showed especially in the first round. They both flicked out lazy, slow, inaccurate shots. After the first round the punches became a bit better, but still pretty inaccurate. One note is that in rounds 1, 2 and 3 Golota was hurting Doc with body shots to the right corpus. You could see he squirmed numerous times after body shots and Golota saw this and kept targeting that area. Finally although Doc was showboating on his feet and has quicker footspeed now than AG, but he was stil getting backed up for most of this fight, fighting only in small spurts and was as at least as inaccurate as the more active Andrew. Furthermore he engaged in most of the clinches. Golota wins this fight on acivity and aggression alone. So long Andrew, you have more lives than a cat.


P.S. I know they donated the minor belts to Poland , but did they even announce the winner of this fight?

 

I noticed just after the final bell Golota snuck in a late punch on Doc. Very fitting for his farewell. :yep

 

In the interview leading to the fight, the Polish press were asking McCall about training, etc and he just kept referring to how maybe even him and Golota could get it on next. Clearly he was just trying to set himself up for another Polish payday. The video is on youtube and in English if you are interested.

I agree that Golota should stay far away from that and just ride off into the sunset.

Yes Hoax, that's what I meant before when I said even though this was an exhibition, in typical Golota fashion he did catch him cleanly a few times and even after the bell.

Farewell Golota...with all the highs and lows you can never say he was not entertaining!

 

:nut

 

I've often wondered how differently Golota's career would have unfolded had he fought Mercer as scheduled in 1997. That version of Golota could most certainly have beaten Mercer. Even Jesse The Boogieman Ferguson was able to beat Mercer if I"m not mistaken. He needed a confidence booster and a head check after the two bizarre DQs against Bowe. Instead he was thrust into title fight against Lewis with all of Poland was watching. Way too much pressure for a guy who was already off balance. But like you said, I can see why team Golota were confident Golota was going to beat Lewis at the time. And Lewis hadn't really made a name for himself yet. He was coming off of two lackluster fights that ended with him winning by DQs against McCall and Akinwande plus he was KOed in two by McCall earlier on. Lewis reign really began by blowing Golota out of the water. Lucky us!:!: