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

Can’t believe this thing is still up in the depths of the web! Took me a while to recall “golota express” scratching my head on a busy new year’s office day 
I hope you Gents had good Christmas and wish you happy new year!

 

Hello !

I am honored to finally link up with you here on this forum! As a fellow Golotaholic, I am delighted to be among the biggest Golota fans on Earth! This thread is like a sanctuary !

Andrew is my lifelong hero, he's how I got into boxing. I will never love any other fighter as much as I love the Polish national hero!

Anyway, since we both caught Golotafever in the 90s and because we still feel symptoms of Golotamania today, I have a proposition for you. Let's revive this forum!! Let's even get the old-timers and regulars of the "Ultimate Golota Homepage" to return. Now, we can all look back on Andrew's long and illustrious career. Let's relive his career by chatting about his best fights, favorite fights, worst fights (and so on) as well as discuss his legacy now that he's retired. Since an athlete is usually appreciated more years after retirement, we can even make a "Golota Appreciation Thread".

In closing (well, almost ) I just want to say that now is a more crucial time than ever to not only discuss, but perhaps more important, advocate for Golota's historical standing because many if not most fighters' highest honor or greatest achievement comes in retirement when an entity decides that he deserves to be honored. The prime example is enshrinement into a Hall of Fame. I will make it official on here and announce that I will champion and advocate for Golota's induction into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in Riverside, CA, when the time comes!!!

We owe it to Andrew to advocate on his behalf because he has such a rough reputation around the block. The Pole is very often hated in America.

All of the Golotaholics on here need a refresher on how Andy has been honored in nearly the last four years of his retirement (and how that improves his historical standing). After reading the three points below, please see my new post right below this one as I separated it all into two parts to avoid taking on book-length form and rivaling "Star Wars" haha):

1. In June 2016, Andrew was invited to participate in his first-ever International Boxing Hall of Fame Weekend in Canastota, NY. The Pole, among the countless boxing greats present, partook in the fist casting ceremony, spoke at Flashback Friday: 1990s night, attended the Banquet of Champions, and also donated a fight-worn robe and trunks to the Hall. Golota's fist impression and trunks and robe will forever be on display in the Hall; these items are in a setting of boxing lore. A place which houses artifacts from such immortalized legends as Ali, Dempsey, and Louis. Given that Andrew Golota was Poland's first boxing star and given that he is the greatest Polish heavyweight in boxing history, it is symbolic that his fist impression and ring attire are immortalized in the sport's shrine.

2. In November 2016, Golota was inducted into the Illinois Boxing Hall of Fame as one of many accomplished individuals who contributed a great deal to the boxing scene in that state, a distinction which Oliver McCall is yet to receive.

3. Also in November 2016, Golota was named the Polish Athlete of the past quarter century (that's saying a whole lot for someone who never won a world championship because Golota edged such famous countrymen as Adam Malysz, Anita Wlodarczyk, Robert Lewandowski, among others).

 

We Golotaholics can realize just how much of an impact Andrew truly had when reading his list of various accomplishments. This list only proves Andy is underrated. Let's all marvel at what the Pole did in the ring (I don't know about you guys, but I get pretty excited about this stuff )!!

1. Bronze Medal – Olympic Games
2. Bronze Medal – European Championships
3. Became Poland's first star in professional boxing putting the nation on the global boxing map
4. Became the first Pole to ever challenge for a heavyweight world title in the pro ranks following 45 years of communist subjugation in trying to become the first Pole to hold a piece of the crown shared by Ali, Louis, Marciano and some of the greatest boxers in the history of the sport
5. Became only the third boxer from the former Eastern Bloc to fight for a piece of the heavyweight title ushering in a successful era of former Soviet-bloc heavyweights
6. Became the first and only Polish-born boxer to grace the cover of Ring Magazine
7. Fought then-IBF champion Chris Byrd to a draw in 2004 at boxing's mecca, Madison Square Garden, achieving the best result in a world heavyweight prizefight among all Polish heavyweights who ever fought for a piece of the division’s crown
8. IBF North American heavyweight title
9. WBA Fedelatin heavyweight title
10. Became the most famous Polish boxer in history (the country produced four world champs and some other contenders)

 

Last but certainly NOT LEAST, here's a BOLD PREDICTION on my part:
We will never live to see the day that a Pole wins a portion of the heavyweight title. This will only solidify how great Golota was and his claim to "greatest Polish heavyweight in boxing history" will become immortalized in the history of the sport.

PS. For anyone interested, here are the Polish heavyweights to watch out for today:
-Artur Szpilka
-Izu Ugonoh
-Andrzej Wawrzyk (fights Wilder for WBC title Feb. 25)

 

Golata was very underated in his time I think. The fights with bowe are always claimed that bowe was finished, bowe was washed up but no one else was beating bowe like that at the time. He came very close to winning a title at one point. Very talented under rated guy

 

Ugonoh is one of my favourite HW prospects. I think he'll shut Breazeale out.

 

Exactly. I hate when people say that Bowe was shot, past-prime, or faded. It's no excuse. The guy was what, only 28 years old? There's no way a pro boxer can be done by only 28.

Golota is the only heavyweight who was able to fight Riddick Bowe straight up and get the best of him on both occasions. Nobody else – including Holyfield – couldn't do this, they couldn't outpunch and outjab "Big Daddy" in two fights like Andrew did.

 

Here's a nice article on Golota about the current status of his life in retirement: http://www.spin.ph/boxing/spin-zone...t-past-andrew-golota-former-heavyweight-boxer.

 

This is the video of Andrew officially announcing his retirement after his "rematch" and show fight in Poland with Danell "Doc" Nicholson. This is momentous, something every Golota fan should watch, especially after all of his various comebacks. The career of one fine athlete who made such an impact on boxing history coming to a close. The interview is in Polish, but Andrew is basically thanking his fans and expressing what a wonderful affair the farewell fight turned out to be. Golota implies retirement when he tells the reporter to not tempt him to return to the squared circle anymore haha. Enjoy:

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What are some of your favorite Golota fights?

 

Well this thread had legs...

 

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Thanks for this, always was a HUGE Golota fan, sadly he was cheated out of a title via bad decisions on a couple of occasions. I felt he should've gotten then win vs Byrd and Ruiz. I can picture the big man draped in the IBF & WBA Titles had both decisions gone his way.