How good was the Golota that fought Bowe?

[BIG H]

He certainly had a very short prime, but in those 2 fights he dominated one of the best HWs of the era. If he continued that form, how good could he have been?

[Mark TKO]

or did he just have Bowe's number ?

I remember when the Lewis fight was announced and I thought heyup Lennox could be in trouble - how wrong was I.

Christ bet that was 13-14 years go now !

[Mctaggert]

I think Golota was pretty good as a boxer, but the guy had no heart. Bowe by that time also had brain damage. It's not even up for interpretation it’s just bloody obvious.

I think what you can say about Golota is that he was a proper heavyweight who could box, jab and punch, but just lacked guts and dare I say it brains.

[THE PHILOSOPHER]

Some ppl put it down to the maskaev v rahmam syndrome! Personally i think golota was more than that. I dont think it was a case of maskaev or golota just having there number, i think it was a case of 2 fighters being underrated and 2 fighters being overrated. Rahman just wasn't that good (on a consistant basis) and bowe just wasn't destined to be a long reigning champ, he turned into a fat blob. He also got an outright gift decision vs tony tubbs, he could quite easily have gone 1-2 rather than 2-1 against a 205lb holyfield had parachute man not saved him from the beatdown evander was putting on him, he was out on his feet against hide too...

In his prime he was an Elite-Level talented fighter but also a mental midget, no one denies it. Past prime he improved mentally but his great jab was gone with an accident and a serious chunk of his athleticism was just gone with time.

He still should be a champ in the division abandoned by Lewis and not yet taken over by Klits but he was shamefully robbed vs ruiz and the byrd fight was debateable too, Hardly anyone denies that too.

His fight with the 6'6" american corey sanders was just an absolute slugfest, he was impressive vs witherspoon (tim to this day swears golota hit him harder than any fighter ever!) and if he had committed more in the fight with michael grant he would have took him out early too, the bowe fights are 2 of my favourite HW clashes ever so for that he always has me as a fan but ultimately he fought on way past his best and just couldn't get it together!

Had his head always been in tact, he would surely be knocking on or just below the lewis/Klitschkos level, but it wasn't. That's all there is to it.

[THE PHILOSOPHER]

but the guy had no heart.

Try watching the sanders fight.

Bowe by that time also had brain damage. It's not even up for interpretation it’s just bloody obvious.

Bullshit. Arguably the best american HW of the 90's got his arse handed to him that's why you hear all these crappy excuses about bowe being shot at 28 lol. He had just beaten evander for a 2nd time and stopped hide and gonzalez ffs but he was brain damaged! Please....

[ElTerribleMorales]

Some ppl put it down to the maskaev v rahmam syndrome! Personally i think golota was more than that. I dont think it was a case of maskaev or golota just having there number, i think it was a case of 2 fighters being underrated and 2 fighters being overrated. Rahman just wasn't that good (on a consistant basis) and bowe just wasn't destined to be a long reigning champ, he turned into a fat blob. He also got an outright gift decision vs tony tubbs, he could quite easily have gone 1-2 rather than 2-1 against a 205lb holyfield had parachute man not saved him from the beatdown evander was putting on him, he was out on his feet against hide too...

In his prime he was an Elite-Level talented fighter but also a mental midget, no one denies it. Past prime he improved mentally but his great jab was gone with an accident and a serious chunk of his athleticism was just gone with time.

He still should be a champ in the division abandoned by Lewis and not yet taken over by Klits but he was shamefully robbed vs ruiz and the byrd fight was debateable too, Hardly anyone denies that too.

His fight with the 6'6" american corey sanders was just an absolute slugfest, he was impressive vs witherspoon (tim to this day swears golota hit him harder than any fighter ever!) and if he had committed more in the fight with michael grant he would have took him out early too, the bowe fights are 2 of my favourite HW clashes ever so for that he always has me as a fan but ultimately he fought on way past his best and just couldn't get it together!

Had his head always been in tact, he would surely be knocking on or just below the lewis/Klitschkos level, but it wasn't. That's all there is to it.

The fan-man fight is the one that Holyfield did win, Bowe rightfully picked up the first fight, lost the second fight (fan-man fight) , and then stopped Evander in the 3rd fight, in Holyfield's defense he was having heart issues at that time, as for the question at hand I agree with the assessment that Golota had all the attributes to be a top HW, he has skill, size, power, he could physically take a beating when he was in the mindset (watch the shots he took against Tyson before he finally quit), he just didn't have the heart, will, or drive to strive and be the best, he became frustrated too easily and would either quit or find a way out, be it by DQ or just getting clocked

[THE PHILOSOPHER]

Some ppl put it down to the maskaev v rahmam syndrome! Personally i think golota was more than that. I dont think it was a case of maskaev or golota just having there number, i think it was a case of 2 fighters being underrated and 2 fighters being overrated. Rahman just wasn't that good (on a consistant basis) and bowe just wasn't destined to be a long reigning champ, he turned into a fat blob. He also got an outright gift decision vs tony tubbs, he could quite easily have gone 1-2 rather than 2-1 against a 205lb holyfield had parachute man not saved him from the beatdown evander was putting on him, he was out on his feet against hide too...

In his prime he was an Elite-Level talented fighter but also a mental midget, no one denies it. Past prime he improved mentally but his great jab was gone with an accident and a serious chunk of his athleticism was just gone with time.

He still should be a champ in the division abandoned by Lewis and not yet taken over by Klits but he was shamefully robbed vs ruiz and the byrd fight was debateable too, Hardly anyone denies that too.

His fight with the 6'6" american corey sanders was just an absolute slugfest, he was impressive vs witherspoon (tim to this day swears golota hit him harder than any fighter ever!) and if he had committed more in the fight with michael grant he would have took him out early too, the bowe fights are 2 of my favourite HW clashes ever so for that he always has me as a fan but ultimately he fought on way past his best and just couldn't get it together!

Had his head always been in tact, he would surely be knocking on or just below the lewis/Klitschkos level, but it wasn't. That's all there is to it.

The fan-man fight is the one that Holyfield did win, Bowe rightfully picked up the first fight, lost the second fight (fan-man fight) , and then stopped Evander in the 3rd fight, in Holyfield's defense he was having heart issues at that time, as for the question at hand I agree with the assessment that Golota had all the attributes to be a top HW, he has skill, size, power, he could physically take a beating when he was in the mindset (watch the shots he took against Tyson before he finally quit), he just didn't have the heart, will, or drive to strive and be the best, he became frustrated too easily and would either quit or find a way out, be it by DQ or just getting clocked

My bad, i haven't watched the 5 fights in question for years so forgive me if my memory deserts me, I'm to heavily involved in the current scene, maybe il go back and watch them all when i have a few hours to spare because i know they're worth a watch again.

Bowes career if i remember correctly was bizarre full stop! His fight with tillary was hilarious, he ventured into the marines for 11 days, threw his belt in a bin, kidnapped his wife & children, battered his sister, came back to boxing looking like a whale and struggled with journeymen. Gave us 3 classics with evander and got beat down by golota!

[ElTerribleMorales]

Some ppl put it down to the maskaev v rahmam syndrome! Personally i think golota was more than that. I dont think it was a case of maskaev or golota just having there number, i think it was a case of 2 fighters being underrated and 2 fighters being overrated. Rahman just wasn't that good (on a consistant basis) and bowe just wasn't destined to be a long reigning champ, he turned into a fat blob. He also got an outright gift decision vs tony tubbs, he could quite easily have gone 1-2 rather than 2-1 against a 205lb holyfield had parachute man not saved him from the beatdown evander was putting on him, he was out on his feet against hide too...

In his prime he was an Elite-Level talented fighter but also a mental midget, no one denies it. Past prime he improved mentally but his great jab was gone with an accident and a serious chunk of his athleticism was just gone with time.

He still should be a champ in the division abandoned by Lewis and not yet taken over by Klits but he was shamefully robbed vs ruiz and the byrd fight was debateable too, Hardly anyone denies that too.

His fight with the 6'6" american corey sanders was just an absolute slugfest, he was impressive vs witherspoon (tim to this day swears golota hit him harder than any fighter ever!) and if he had committed more in the fight with michael grant he would have took him out early too, the bowe fights are 2 of my favourite HW clashes ever so for that he always has me as a fan but ultimately he fought on way past his best and just couldn't get it together!

Had his head always been in tact, he would surely be knocking on or just below the lewis/Klitschkos level, but it wasn't. That's all there is to it.

The fan-man fight is the one that Holyfield did win, Bowe rightfully picked up the first fight, lost the second fight (fan-man fight) , and then stopped Evander in the 3rd fight, in Holyfield's defense he was having heart issues at that time, as for the question at hand I agree with the assessment that Golota had all the attributes to be a top HW, he has skill, size, power, he could physically take a beating when he was in the mindset (watch the shots he took against Tyson before he finally quit), he just didn't have the heart, will, or drive to strive and be the best, he became frustrated too easily and would either quit or find a way out, be it by DQ or just getting clocked

My bad, i haven't watched the 5 fights in question for years so forgive me if my memory deserts me, I'm to heavily involved in the current scene maybe, il go back and watch them all when i have a few hours to spare because i know they're worth a watch again.

Bowes career if i remember correctly was bizarre full stop! His fight with tillary was hilarious, he ventured into the marines for 11 days, threw his belt in a bin, kidnapped his wife & children, battered his sister, came back to boxing looking like a whale and struggled with journeymen. Gave us 3 classics with evander and got beat down by golota!

not particularly in that order but yea, that about sums it up

[THE PHILOSOPHER]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcRvHfocX2Y

All 3 of these are funny for various reasons. The man was unhinged but always value for money.

[Spicoli]

He was alright and always had the physical gifts of a bull with nice straight punches. Unfortunatly his mind was held together with duct tape and elmers glue. Bowe did come in looking like Mardi gras float the first go but still had some skill in tow. He had taken lots o leather from Hide, Holyfield bouts and was literally there to be flat kod in the third fight but Holyfield had hit a wall badly.

Golota was just a trip. I'm convinced he had some trigger in his head that flipped once every year or two. He ripped Hayden in the balls, the next year he got stunned badly and resorted to turning Zombie on Sampson pouhas neck, following year he almost caved Nicholsons head in with intentional headbutts, then he got Bowe and made himself into a trivia question and punchline. It's a shame, he had skill, but he was also dude set on self implosion.

[Bobthepen]

but the guy had no heart.

Try watching the sanders fight.

Bowe by that time also had brain damage. It's not even up for interpretation it’s just bloody obvious.

Bullshit. Arguably the best american HW of the 90's got his arse handed to him that's why you hear all these crappy excuses about bowe being shot at 28 lol. He had just beaten evander for a 2nd time and stopped hide and gonzalez ffs but he was brain damaged! Please....

You're right, Bowe had to be in the shape of his life to beat heavyweight legends Herbie Hide and Gonzalez.
He only beat Holyfield because Holyfield had hepatitis and gassed trying to finish Bowe after knocking him on his fat ass.
Just looking at the physique of Bowe in his nearly days to then says it all.

[Mars_ax]

He certainly had a very short prime, but in those 2 fights he dominated one of the best HWs of the era. If he continued that form, how good could he have been?

Bowe's only "official" loss in his career was to Evander Holyfield, a razor close MD, in the 2nd of their 3 fights, Bowe had won the 1st fight and stopped Holyfield in the 3rd fight.

Golota "the foul Pole", had his moments in his career, and he always had a punchers chance in fights, no matter who he was in against. The sad part of Golota's 2 fights with Bowe, was rather then getting disqualified for low blows, he could have actually won both fights if he'd kept his punches up.

[ICB]

Riddick Bowe was strange for his height and size, he should of been a great boxer on the outside but he wasn't. He was a great inside fighter but only an average fighter on the outside, which showed when he got a gift decision vs a past his best Tony Tubbs, and also struggled vs Tyrell Biggs, both who fought him on the outside.

Even though Riddick Bowe was past his prime, i think Andrew Golota would of always have troubled him. Because Andrew Golota was a good outside fighter with a very good jab he murdered Riddick Bowe with the jab.

As for the question i think Andrew Golota skillfully was a very good fighter, when he fought Riddick Bowe. Good speed, good skills, good jab, good combinations, decent power. But i wouldn't favour him vs any of the great Heavyweight's because he's just too weak mentally and remember skills is only 50 percent of being a pro boxer you got to have the mental game and Andrew Golota never did.

[therealremi]

Golota - Bowe III, 3 November 2012, Poland, wrestling rules

[johnsebastianmiran]

Andrew the Nutcracker Golata had some jab and more than adequate right hand. He shouldn't have been allowed to watch any movie where nuts were mentioned. Bowe is one of those guys who doesn't get caught doing the dastardly deeds that causes a loss of points. I don't know what it was with Golata but I saw John Ruiz in another light and he was getting dirtier as the fight went on. Golata could have been champion and he fooled everyone with his peed and his punches traveled quick because most of them were straight but the uppercuts and hooks had a mind of their won and I don't remember if Bowe ever had a deep voice after that fight. In the Ruiz fight Golata looked like the good guy. Ain't that a bitch for the four rounds I actually did see.