The future of Andrew Golota still unclear

By Homicide Curly

08.08.01 - Before Oleg Maskaev, Wladimir or Vitali Klitschko there was an Eastern European terror by the name of Andrew Golota. Golota was a ruthless stone faced punching machine who gave former undisputed champion Riddick Bowe a thorough thrashing in the summer of '96. In his disastrous rematch with Golota, Riddick Bowe was given a beating not unlike the first. Prior to fighting Golota, Bowe was considered to be the best heavyweight in the world. Bowe was coming off an 8th round knock out over Evander Holyfield when he faced Golota in Madison Square Garden. The neurological damage Big Daddy Bowe received at the hands of Andrew Golota resulted in deteriorating speech, and lessening of motor skills that brought Bowe to an early retirement.

Who was this new Eastern European Terror, and where was he from?
Golota was from the mean streets of Warsaw, Poland. Before winning Bronze at the 1988 Olympics, Golota won 7 Polish national championships. This all started for him at the ripe old age of 13.

Andrew was not your typical "stand up" Eastern European boxer. This kid could fight. And as Bowe found out he was one tough son of a bitch. Despite having a broken mandible, a ruptured tympanum (ear drum) and severe laceration below his lip from penetration of his bottom teeth , Andrew fought on refusing to quit in the second bout with Bowe. Yes he did have heart, more so than what Riddick Bowe did. Andrew was way out in front after administering a huge beating to Bowe. But as we well know, Golota was DQ'd.

Lets be genuine here. Isn't it fair to say that Bowe should have received an Academy Award for the role he played in the ring that night? Yes Bowe did a lot of acting in those two fights with Golota. Bowe was getting pummeled and abused in those fights, the likes he had never known. The American media never forgave Andrew Golota for the punishment he inflected upon Bowe.

If anyone were to receive ridicule for the beating that Riddick Bowe received at the hands of Golota it should have been Rock Newman. After allowing his fighter to absorb the kind of punishment he did from Golota, Rock Newman and his band of goons launched an unprovoked attack on Andrew Golota and his corner. Do any of you remember this? A ring full of thugs and simpletons, led by the ring leader Rock Newman who goaded this whole incident. The riot that ensued the disqualification of Andrew Golota resulted in the injury of a total of 22 people including police officers as well as the arrests of 17 people, three of whom were part of Riddick Bowes entourage.

Eddy Futch was so infuriated at this he refused to work the corner of Bowe in the second fight. To Futchs' credit, he acknowledges today that it was Golota who ended Bowes career more than any other fight that Bowe had been in. Futch also says that if he had been in Bowes corner for the second fight he would have thrown in the towel and protected his fighter from the punishment, the same he had done for Joe Frazier in his rubber match with Ali in '75.

Those fights with Bowe seems like an eternity ago. Subsequently Andrew Golota has changed the course of another American heavyweight who was thought to be the "Heir Apparent", Michael Grant. As with Bowe, Michael Grant was never the same following his fight with Golota. Golota shattered the chin of the "Heir Apparent", make no mistake about it, it was Andrew Golota who exposed Grant, not Lennox Lewis or Jameel McCline.

Since his no contest decision to Mike Tyson last October, Andrew Golota has been inactive. Can we expect to see Andrew in the ring again? I know there are many Golota-holics out there who are waiting to hear news of this. I had the opportunity and pleasure of speaking with Mariola Golota, the wife of Andrew Golota.

A brief review of our conversation:

Nick Curly: Do you see Andrew making a return to the ring?

M.Golota: "We have offers right now. I don't know. He still has not decided. I asked him about boxing, he said "Well, I'll wait off the next 3 months so I have been resting for a year I'll be okay.", so he is still deciding."

-If Andrew does continue to fight will it be in the U.S. or possibly somewhere in Europe?

"You know what, I think it might be Europe because people there took the Tyson fight a little bit differently. And people here over reacted a lot. If he does fight, and I am not saying that he will but it might be a good idea to start out in Europe."

-Who do you think people would like to see Andrew fight?

"Klitschko brothers?" (laughs)

-Has Andrew show any interest in fighting for the Polish heavyweight title? And what are your thoughts about this?

"I don't think there is an opponent in Poland that could match Andrew. You kind of have to look at someone who... Poland, they just started professional boxing about, with Andrews first fight in Poland. That was about three years ago. So even if someone fought as a professional for three years it would still not be a very good match for Andrew because Andrews so much stronger maybe and that he knows a lot more because he has been a professional boxer for so many years. Um, I don't know, Andrew should get you know maybe someone who has been fighting for a while, some fights are not really well matched. So it is kind of important to, especially for like a fight in Poland because you don't want to fight someone who you can knock down or knock out in the first round. You need someone who you can go at least 6, 7, 10 rounds. That way you kind of test yourself, how good you are and whether you can come back or not."

-In speaking of their relationship with Lou Duva and the post Tyson remarks, these were Mrs. Golotas comments;

"I am disappointed in Lou, especially in Al Certo and Dino Duva each one of them. You know after all that money that they made on Andrew. They would still turn around and do this. I mean you don't do that. You just don't do that. If I have a client and he pays me money I don't disrespect them, I don't treat them bad. I treat them like someone who pays me money. So, you know, I am not even talking about the amount of money they got paid. Lou Duva was never too big of a favorite of mine. When Andrew was training with Lou Duva quite a few years ago, when our daughter was born, I quit collage, and I went to the training camp and he treated me really, really badly. He made stupid comments, that changed after I finished law school. I don't think he wanted to risk being called on it, I don't know. But he has a very, very sharp tongue. And he can be a really mean man."

-How chaotic did things get following the Tyson fight?

"There was a man who continued to call my office threatening to kill Andrew. He said that he wanted to kill Andrew because he had lost money on the fight. This man was crazy enough to leave his phone number. Andrew wanted to call him and ask him if he would have shared the money with Andrew if he would have won.(laughs) We turned that information over to the FBI. It was a very frightening time for us.

-Mrs. Golota went on to comment on the all too common personal attacks in the sport

"You know who is a really good man? George Foreman. you never hear him say anything bad about a fighter. The most he will say is "I think he's had a bad day" or "You know he didn't do such a bad job." No personal attacks. He is a really stand up guy. I think that comes from George Foreman being a boxer. He knows how much it hurts when you hear someone make comments, that they are unfair and they attack you, personally. Even as you know, human beings not only as a boxer, it is so much more on a personal level."

-When talking of possible trainers for Andrew, we spoke of Angelo Dundee, her response was;

" That is something to, think about, and talk about with Andrew."

-As in all aspects of boxing the subject eventually came to Don King as a potential promoter in Andrews corner.

"Signing with King would be a step up from where Andrew has been. That's a really interesting proposition because I know that no one would take advantage of Don King. I like Don, you know till now Andrew really never had people who were good at controlling things that were going on. And maybe Don King, he could raise hell over there when things are not to his way." (laughs)

-I enquired if Andrew spent time on the Internet or visits any of the many fan sites dedicated to Andrew Mrs Golota stated;

"No, he wont even talk about boxing anymore.He went through a lot since that fight with Tyson. And he, you know I never heard a word of complaining. Not a bad word about anybody or anything that happened. That is what his problem is. He is not going to scream and shout and call anybody any names or just kind of get things out he will just be quite. He just wont talk. If you start talking about boxing he just "I don't want to hear about it." and that is it. So..."(laughs)

-The web sites that are dedicated to Andrew;

"I think I will check them out and show them to Andrew, if he will want to talk about it." (laughs)

-When the question was put to Mrs. Golota about a possible date for Andrews next fight;

"You will be the first one to be invited. (laughs) But right now Andrew will still take a couple of more months to decide."

-Mrs. Golota spoke of their trip to Poland where Andrew spent the early part of his life.

"Poland was fun. When we, he had a couple of fights in Poland and it has just been so great. Everything is still relatively inexpensive so you go and dine at the best restaurants and it is probably one third or one fourth of the price that you pay in the United States. And the training expenses are not as high. Its really nice."

-I have to say that my conversation with Mariola Golota was a very pleasurable one. She is a very well spoken woman who shows great concern for her husbands happiness as well as his career. She ended our conversation as such;

"Thank you very much and hopefully we will talk." (She and Andrew about his career)

I for one hope to see Andrew Golota at the top of his game again and on his way to holding a heavyweight title some day in the near future. With all the various alphabet groups that have exploded into existence in the past few years, it is not inconceivable for Andrew to compete for one of these titles.

THE CURLY FACTOR:
Al Certo and Lou Duva were both inappropriate in their comments following the Golota/Tyson fight. The comments made by the two of them were contemptible. Certos' job is to protect his fighter at all cost, irregardless of the fans and most importantly what the press has or might write. I found Duvas comments to be hypocritical. It was Duvas Golden Egg of the past decade "Sweet pea" Whitaker who quit this year against Carlos Bojorquez that left Duva scrambling for excuses. Could it be something in Duvas training that leaves his fighters open to yield? Whether Pernell Whitaker has a Hall of Fame career or not, quitting is quitting. Don't point the finger at Andrew Golota calling him a quitter, and in the same breath make excuses for someone like Whitaker.

What I can't understand is why when an American fighter quits as Michael Grant just did, there are plenty of excuses. Grant claims that he had an injury, a broken ankle. Regardless of that, he chose not to continue. But take a Andrew Golota, or more recently Vitali Klitschko who both quit under the same circumstances and they were considered dogs because they were injured. My question is; do Americans feel pain differently? Why have so many Americans quit in the past year but yet they were considered "Brave, noble fighters" by the American media? Can we all spell h-y-p-o-c-r-i-s-y?

Showtimes V.P. of sports, Jay Larkins' actions of forcing Andrew to do an interview following the Tyson fight were disgraceful. I still get angry when I think of it. We all should be angry with what Larkin did. Larkin called Andrew a "Stupid son of a bitch" because he would not come out of the dressing room for an interview for Showtime. Even though Golota complained of dizziness and nausea, and we now know he suffered a concussion, still Larkin showed no concern. It is obvious to me that when it comes down to the safety of a fighter or the profit of the networks, network executives overwhelmingly choose the profit of the networks.

Would Jay Larkin have been satisfied if Andrew Golota had ended up in a coma and died as did Bobby Tomasello that very night?

HOB writer, Michael Katz wrote, "It may not be fair to compare Tomasello's brave performance against Golota's quit job after two rounds with Mike Tyson"

Well Mr Katz, if Andrew would have lost his life in the ring that night we would have been reading another of your mournful narratives of what a travesty it was that another fighter has died. Maybe you would have criticized the referee the same as you did Arthur Mercante Jr. following the death of Scottland. Why don't you try a little consistancy in your judgement of fighters? Why should Golota be held to a higher standard while fighters like Grant, Mitchell and Whitaker are held to a lesser one?

Golota quitting may have saved him his life. It is better to be safe than sorry. I should think.

This is a brutal and very dirty sport. Andrew Golota did the right thing looking out for his own health, because no one else will. Stephan Johnson is just another fighter whom no one looked out for and died in the ring. Incidentally, Johnson fought on the undercard of Grant/Golota when he was critically injured. Did his death have an impact on Andrews psyche? Only Andrew knows.

If Golota does decide to come back he should not be held to a higher standard than other fighters in this game. What ever his decision maybe, I wish him the best of luck.