Andrzej Golota - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Andrew Golota is a Polish boxer. Nicknamed "Foul Pole," he won a bronze medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul and is a four-time world heavyweight title challenger.

Amateur career

Golota had 111 wins in an amateur

Amateur

An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training....

career that culminated in his winning a bronze medal

Bronze medal

A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...

at the 1988 Seoul Olympics

1988 Summer Olympics

The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...

. Golota won other international amateur

Amateur

An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training....

tournament

Tournament

A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...

s as well. In 1990, he married a U.S. citizen of Polish descent and moved permanently from Poland to the city of Chicago. His wife had lived in Chicago since the age of eleven.

Gołota's Olympic results were as follows:

1st round bye
Bye (sports)
A bye, in sports and other competitive activities, most commonly refers to the practice of allowing a player or team to advance to the next round of a playoff tournament without playing...
Defeated Svilen Rusinov
Svilen Rusinov
Svilen Aldinov Rusinov is a Bulgarian boxer, who twice competed at the Summer Olympics for his native country. He won a bronze medal in the super heavyweight division at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.- Olympic results :1988...

(Bulgaria) 5-0
Defeated Harold Obunga (Kenya) 5-0
Lost to Baik Hyun-Man
Baik Hyun-Man
Baik Hyun-Man is a former heavyweight amateur boxer from South Korea, who won the silver medal in his weight division at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. In the final he was knocked out in the first round by Ray Mercer of the United States.- Results :-External links:*...

(South Korea) RSC 2

Professional career

In 1992, he turned professional

Professional

A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...

, knocking out Roosevelt Shuler in three rounds. He had three more knockout

Knockout

A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...

s and then went the distance for the first time, defeating Robert Smith in six rounds. He won his next 16 fights by knockout

Knockout

A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...

. His wins included Bobby Crabtree and Jeff Lampkin

Jeff Lampkin

Jeff Lampkin is a former American professional boxer. During his 11-year professional career, Lampkin won the USBA cruiserweight title and IBF cruiserweight belt.- Amateur career :...

. Following his KO of Crabtree he was featured in Ring Magazine's new faces section. Soon after, he faced a respected contender, Maron Wilson. Golota won a ten round decision. Gołota won his next five bouts by knockout. His opponents included Samson Po'hua and Darnell Nicholson, both of whom were considered fringe contenders at the time. The win over Po'hua was memorable for the moment in which Gołota bit Po'hua on the shoulder, two years before the infamous bite-filled rematch

Rematch

Rematch is a the first US-released Sammy Hagar compilation album. After Sammy left Capitol Records for Geffen in 1981, and after Rick Springfield had a hit with the Hagar-penned "I've Done Everything for You", this collection was released to capitalize on that momentum.The album was originally...

between Evander Holyfield

Evander Holyfield

Evander Holyfield is a professional boxer from the United States. He is a former undisputed world champion in both the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions, earning him the nickname "The Real Deal"...

and Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson

Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson is a retired American boxer. Tyson is a former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles, he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old...

Golota vs. Bowe

Golota's first high-profile fight came against former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe

Riddick Bowe

Riddick Lamont Bowe is a retired American boxer. He is a two-time heavyweight champion and a former undisputed heavyweight champion...

. Bowe had not fought in nearly a year since his third and final fight with Evander Holyfield

Evander Holyfield

, which he won by technical knockout in the eighth round, and had said regarding his opponent, "how do you train for a bum?", paying no attention to his opponent's won-loss record. The fight was held at Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...

on July 11, 1996, and was televised by HBO as part of its World Championship Boxing series.

Early in the fight it appeared that Bowe had underestimated his opponent's skills, as Golota knocked him down in the second round. After being knocked down in the fourth round, Golota knocked Bowe down a second time in the fifth round and appeared to be winning the fight on all of the ringside scorecards. However, Golota's penchant for not following the rules was also showcased in this fight as he had trouble keeping his punches above Bowe's belt line. After being repeatedly warned, referee Wayne Kelly began deducting points from Golota and had done so twice prior to the seventh round. Early in that round Kelly took a third point from Golota and warned him that if he did it again, he was going to lose the fight. Golota continued to fight and with less than a minute left in the round landed several hard shots that appeared to have Bowe staggered. However, with 37 seconds remaining in the round Golota dropped Bowe with another blatant low punch, directly to the genitals, and Kelly disqualified him.

What ensued was a dramatic riot that left a large number of civilians and policemen injured, including Gołota himself, who was hit by a member of Bowe's entourage with a two-way radio and required eleven stitches to close a cut on his head. The riot, which has been named "Riot at the Garden", was called Event of the Year by the Ring Magazine.

The fight made a number of sports shows, including SportsCenter

SportsCenter

SportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of American cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 7, 1979. Originally broadcast only daily, SportsCenter is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major...

. The controversy of this fight created interest in a rematch. The rematch was on Pay Per View and Gołota once again led Bowe on the scorecards only to be disqualified in the ninth round, again for multiple low blows. This fight also proved to be controversial, and a protest was filed by Gołota's camp to try to overturn the fight's result. Michael Katz, a sportswriter, coined the term Foul Pole for Gołota.

Both fights are featured on HBO

Home Box Office

HBO, short for Home Box Office, is an American premium cable television network, owned by Time Warner. , HBO's programming reaches 28.2 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium network in America . In addition to its U.S...

's documentary Legendary Nights The Tale of Bowe Golota.

Despite two losses in a row, Gołota became the WBC

World Boxing Council

The World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...

number one contender. On October 4, 1997, he received a shot at the world's Heavyweight championship against Lennox Lewis

Lennox Lewis

Lennox Claudius Lewis, CM, CBE is a retired boxer and the most recent British undisputed world heavyweight champion. He holds dual British and Canadian citizenship...

in Atlantic City, NJ. Gołota was knocked out in the first round.

Gołota subsequently claimed that an injection of lidocaine

Lidocaine

Lidocaine , Xylocaine, or lignocaine is a common local anesthetic and antiarrhythmic drug. Lidocaine is used topically to relieve itching, burning and pain from skin inflammations, injected as a dental anesthetic or as a local anesthetic for minor surgery.- History :Lidocaine, the first amino...

for tendonitis

Tendonitis

Tendinitis , meaning inflammation of a tendon , is a type of tendinopathy often confused with the more common tendinosis, which has similar symptoms but requires different treatment...

in his right knee given to him by his physician shortly before the fight made him woozy and impaired his vision. As a result, he filed a medical malpractice

Medical malpractice

Medical malpractice is professional negligence by act or omission by a health care provider in which the treatment provided falls below the accepted standard of practice in the medical community and causes injury or death to the patient, with most cases involving medical error. Standards and...

suit against his physician, claiming that the injection had cost him the fight and a deal with HBO for $21 million to broadcast his next four to five fights.

Later career

Gołota's boxing career continued with him beating former 2-time world champion Tim Witherspoon

Tim Witherspoon

"Terrible" Tim Witherspoon is an American boxer who was twice world heavyweight champion.-Early career:Witherspoon had eight and a half amateur bouts, losing one to Marvis Frazier on decision after getting knocked down....

by decision. In his next match, he lost to Michael Grant

Michael Grant (boxer)

Michael Anthony Grant is a professional heavyweight boxer. He is 6' 7" tall, with an 86' reach. A natural born athlete before boxing he blossomed into a three-sport star at Chicago's Harper High School...

by a knockout in the tenth round in one of The Rings 1999 fights of the year. Gołota scored two knockdowns of Grant in the first round. He was ahead on all three judges' scorecards in the tenth round when he himself was knocked down. When asked by referee Randy Neuman whether he wanted to continue, he shook his head twice and then haltingly answered "No."

In 2000, Gołota fought in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

beating Marcus Rhodes with a third round knockout.

Later in 2000, he faced former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson

. In the third round, as he had done in the Grant match, Gołota told the referee he did not want to continue. The result of the fight was later changed to no contest when Tyson failed a post fight drug test, testing positive for marijuana.

Following the Tyson fight, Gołota was inactive for nearly three years before returning to the ring on August 14, 2003. He scored a technical knockout of journeyman Brian Nix in the seventh round. On November 15, Golota knocked out Terrence Lewis

Terrence Lewis

Terence Lewis is an Indian choreographer. He was born and raised in Mumbai to a Catholic family.Born to Xavier Lewis and Teresa Lewis, he is the youngest of eight siblings. He is internationally trained and specialises in Indian folk, contemporary and neo-classical dance forms...

in the sixth round at Verona, New York

Verona, New York

Verona is a town in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 6,425 at the 2000 census. The source of the town name is unknown, though it's possibly named after Verona, Italy....

.

Gołota then received a second world title shot, fighting IBF

International Boxing Federation

The International Boxing Federation or IBF is one of four major organizations recognized by IBHOF which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the WBA, WBC and WBO.- History :...

world Heavyweight champion Chris Byrd

Chris Byrd

Chris Cornelius Byrd is a retired and former professional boxer. He is the former WBO and IBF heavyweight champion. His nickname is "Rapid Fire".- Early life :...

at New York City's Madison Square Garden on April 17, 2004. The fight resulted in a draw.

On November 13 of that year, he received his second world title shot in a row. Despite knocking down WBA

World Boxing Association

The World Boxing Association is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title at the professional level. It was previously known as the National Boxing Association before changing its name in 1962...

world champion John Ruiz

John Ruiz

John "The Quietman" Ruiz , is a former American professional boxer. Ruiz is the first Latino heavyweight champion and former two-time WBA heavyweight champion. After a professional career spanning over 18 years, Ruiz officially announced his retirement from the sport at a press conference on April...

twice within the bout, he lost by unanimous decision.

Golota received his third world title try in a row on May 21, 2005 against WBO world champion Lamon Brewster

Lamon Brewster

"Relentless" Lamon Tajuan Brewster is a retired American professional heavyweight boxer, and former WBO heavyweight champion. He won the silver medal as an amateur at the 1995 Pan American Games in Mar del Plata....

. Though heavily favored to win, Gołota lost when Brewster knocked him down three times inside the first round, prompting the referee to stop the bout.

June 9, 2007, he beat Jeremy Bates

Jeremy Bates (boxer)

Jeremy Bates is an American heavyweight boxer. Nicknamed "The Beast", Bates was a moderately successful fighter who fought several other journeyman fighters of his era...

in the 2nd round by technical knockout.

Gołota fought Kevin McBride

Kevin McBride

Kevin Martin McBride is an Irish boxer, who competed for his native country at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.McBride debuted in December 1992, with a victory against Gary Charlton...

on October 6, 2007 in Madison Square Garden and won by TKO in the 6th round, winning the IBF

IBF

IBF may refer to:*International Boxing Federation is one of several boxing organisations* International Bandy Federation former name of Federation of International Bandy , an international governing body for bandy...

North American Heavyweight championship.

On January 19, 2008, Gołota defeated Mike Mollo

Mike Mollo

Mike Mollo is a professional boxer in the heavyweight division, born in the United States.-Background:...

by unanimous decision in 12 rounds to win the World Boxing Association

World Boxing Association

heavyweight championship belt.

In January, 2009, Gołota lost by first round TKO to Ray Austin

Ray Austin (boxer)

Ray Austin is an American professional boxer.-Professional career:Nicknamed "The Rainman", Ray Austin is a heavyweight boxer. Austin has drawn with other notable heavyweights Lance Whitaker, Larry Donald, and Sultan Ibragimov...

.

On October 24, 2009 in Łódź, Gołota fought Tomasz Adamek

Tomasz Adamek

Tomasz Adamek is a Polish professional heavyweight boxer. His record is 44-2 .He is the former WBC world light heavyweight champion and the former IBF, IBO and The Ring magazine cruiserweight champion. As of the end of 2009, Ring Magazine has ranked Adamek as the 30th best boxer in the world...

and lost by TKO in the 5th round. The event was hosted on Polsat

Polsat

Polsat is Poland's second biggest television channel, founded on December 5, 1992 and owned by Zygmunt Solorz-Żak.Polsat belongs to the Polsat Group , which also owns other channels:*Polsat HD*Polsat 2 International*Polsat News*TV Biznes...

TV, it was also broadcast live online on ipla.tv platform. It was the largest live internet transmission in Poland.

Professional boxing record

Tomasz Adamek

|TKO
|5
|24/10/2009
|align=left|

Atlas Arena, Lodz, Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

Ray Austin

Ray Austin (boxer)

|RTD
|1
|07/11/2008
|align=left|

Sichuan Gymnasium, Chengdu

Chengdu

Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...

, China

China

Mike Mollo

Mike Mollo is a professional boxer in the heavyweight division, born in the United States.-Background:...

|UD
|12
|19/01/2008
|align=left|

Madison Square Garden

, New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

Amateur career

Professional career

Golota vs. Bowe

Later career

Professional boxing record

Golota in media

External links