The Great 5 of Lennox Lewis: Another hard beat to greatness

The Great 5 of Lennox Lewis: Another hard beat to greatness

The categorical and quick success over the Pole Andrew Golota

Lennox Lewis is a real discovery among boxers from Great Britain. The London-born fighter is one of the few to have achieved the title of absolute champion, after unifying all the heavyweight world titles. His performance in the 1990s and early 2000s only confirms that this is the last golden era in the heavyweight division. It is for this reason that we recall his five best career games in a series of articles. After the first place reserved for the match between the veterans Lewis and Mike Tyson, the strange draw and Evander Holyfield, the revenge against Hasim Rahman and the difficult success over Frank Bruno, we are left with only the fifth position. She is assigned to the match against Andrew Golotta.

The meeting between the British and the Polish giant was played on October 4, 1997. Golota reaches the right to fight for the title of the World Boxing Council, which is held by the Londoner, who suffered a loss in a similar match not long ago, but regained the title and managed to defend it once again against Henry Akinwande. The Polish boxer also has a good record for his 30 matches in the professional ring. In them, he achieved 28 victories and was disqualified twice in his matches with Riddick Bowe. In both cases, after dominating, but using illegal shots below the waist of your opponent.

One thing is for sure, everyone in the Convention Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey, as well as the people in front of the televisions, know that they will see a clash between two of the best fighters in the heavyweight division. But this is very far from reality. The fight between Lewis and Golotta became one of the most one-sided title fights in boxing history.

Instead of taking advantage of his improved form and trying to end the Briton's dominance of the division, the Pole started more defensively, trying to avoid Lennox's extremely aggressive left straight. Just after the first minute was up, the British boxer managed to land his first heavier blow, rocking Golota with a powerful right hook that sent him into the corner. The challenger comes back looking for a reversal, but instead Lewis manages to land a six punch combination to the head of his opponent. A situation where Golota ends up in the ropes to save himself from a knockdown.

By all accounts, it will be a real miracle if the Pole does not fall to the ground by the end of the part. Andrew is on his feet, but he staggers and can hardly oppose an opponent who is even taller than him by three centimeters. Despite his poor condition, referee Joe Cortez allowed the match to continue.

But this sequel is not very long. Lennox Lewis managed to make a new successful and very powerful combination. This time, Golota receives ten blows, after which he is already on the ground. The match ends after just 95 seconds from the opening gong. The British won the first round by knockout.

With the match over and his new successful defense, Lewis is back in contention for the best heavyweight contender of the 1990s. He scored one of his easiest and fastest wins against a competitor who is expected to give him as much trouble as possible. Instead, after the match, Poland's Andrew Golota spent 15 minutes in the dressing room, in which he was not fully conscious and even stopped breathing for about 30 seconds. The reason is an injection with lidocaine, which he received before the start of the fight due to severe pain in his knee.