I know it was extremely close and opinions were split. I wanna say that Lewis was a VERY slight favorite, but I'm not sure.
I'm not sure why. A lot of people believed Golota was the most talented heavyweight going into that one, and Lewis still had not recovered from the big hit his reputation took after getting KO'd by McCall.
After twice getting himself disqualified against a clearly shot Riddick Bowe? I still think Golota showed nothing impressive in that fight...it was just that Bowe was completely and totally shot. Golota was clearly about as much of a headcase as McCall (in his second fight with Lewis) and we all know how that went.
I think Golota showed excellent combinations, great workrate, good power and very good skills overall in both Bowe fights no matter how shot Bowe was. And lot of people had doubts in Lewis since McCall fight. Plus his fight with Ray Mercer was VERY tought and many fans thought Mercer deserved the win in that fight. Since Mercer fight Lewis just didn't have the chance to redeem himself - McCall rematch was so weird that it was just impossible to impress anyone in such a 'fight'. Then there was an super ugly clinchfest with Akinwande who was scared to death and held Lewis in clinches until he was disqualifeid by referee. It was actually Golota fight that made people believe in Lewis tremendous talent again. Golota was far more popular and well known in Ukraine than Lewis since he was from Poland and lot of people here were following him and rooting for him as a Slavic fighter. And I had very high opinion on Golota as well, very high. But for some reason I had a feeling that Lewis was going to knock him out. I didn't expect it to be so quick though - I thought Lennox would KO him in 5.
it was close to even money. I had £10 on lewis winning in the 1st round at 28-1. Strongly fancied him to jump on Golota.
I got in at 8-5. But I thought the bout was free money---no way Golata's defense was good enough for the kind of punches this opponent threw. Bout was a classic example of how popularity drives the boxing odds---later Tyson was a nice favorite over Golata. And the Golata love for the Brewster fight had him a 2-1 favorite over Lamon.
A lot of people had very high hoped for Golota after the Bowe fight. They saw a man who had all the tools, but lacked discipline, who would put it all together eventually.
I'd be downright SHOCKED if Wilder lasted longer than 2 with the Lewis of the Golota fight. I think a first round KO would have been most likely... Wilder drooling on the canvas.
