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Playing the heavy Tyson, Golota weigh-in with confidence
Updated: Friday October 20, 2000 1:55 AM
AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (AP) -- The fight is billed simply as "Tyson-Golota." No catchy phrases for Friday night's match. The promoters have elected to play it straight. But bill it as you will, Mike Tyson vs. Andrew Golota is a fight with a third-man theme. Can referee Frank Garza, 5-foot-8 and 172 pounds, control Tyson and Golota if one or both heavyweights stomp on the Marquis of Queensberry, as they have been known to do. A lot of people will attend the fight or pay to watch the fight on TV (pay-per-view) expecting the unexpected -- and it could be Tyson's last fight. At Thursday night's weigh-in, the former champion said: "This is definitely my last fight." Few people took him seriously, however. "I plan to fight clean as much as possible," said Golota, a native of Poland living in Chicago.
"Both fighters are professionals and know how to fight," said Al Certo, Golota's trainer. "The media wants a dirty fight and has been trying to talk the fighters into it. I think it is going to be a good fight. If Tyson does fight dirty, Golota might pick him up and body slam him or throw him out of the ring." The media merely reported that Golota was twice disqualified for repeatedly hitting Riddick Bowe low, that he bit Samson Pou'ha on the shoulder, that he head-butted Danell Nicholson. The media did not lead Tyson to bite Evander Holyfield's ears, knock down Orlin Norris after the bell or attack Lou Savarese after the 38-second fght had been stopped. For pushing referee John Coyle aside and throwing punches at Savarese on June 24 at Glasgow, Scotland, Tyson was fined $187,500 but not suspended by the British Boxing Board of Control. The fine has been paid. Tyson charged across the ring and knocked down Savarese with a left hook to the side of the head just seconds after the opening bell in Glasgow. He'll probably try to do the same thing to Golota. As for how long the fight might last, Tyson said, "As long as it takes to kill somebody." Asked if he thought Golota would be intimidated Friday night, Tyson said, "That's his problem."
"Golota is not intimidated by Tyson," Certo said. "Tyson should be intimidated by Golota. Tyson is a small guy and he is older now. When you get older, big fighters intimidate you." "To me he's a little guy," said the 34-year-old Tyson, referring to 6-4 Golota. Tyson is listed as 5-11 1/2 inches, but he appears closer to 5-9. Golota weighed in Thursday at 240 pounds. Tyson was at 222 pounds. Tyson, who boasts that he enjoys being the bad guy, has been more relaxed this week than he was for his second-round victory against Julius Francis on Jan. 29 at Manchester, England, or for his beating of Savarese. The former undisputed heavyweight champion said he no longer is taking the anti-depressant Zoloft, but that he is on a new medication. He said he couldn't name it, and neither his camp nor the Michigan commission would. David A. Sebastian of the commission said Tyson could fight on the medication because it's not performance-enhancing. Tyson (48-3, 42 knockouts) could use a spectacular, controversy-free victory. The first loss of his career came when, as defending undisputed champion, he was knocked out in the 10th round by James "Buster" Douglas in a shocking upset Feb. 11, 1990, at Tokyo. The other two defeats were his WBA title loss to Evander Holyfield on an 11th-round technical knockout Nov. 9, 1996, and his third-round disqualification against Holyfield in the "Bite Fight" on June 28, 1997. Since that bout, Tyson knocked out Francois Botha in the fifth round after he admittedly tried to break Botha's arm in the first round Jan. 16, 1999; fought the one-round no-contest against Norris on Oct. 23; then easily beat Francis and Savarese. Tyson is getting $10 million to fight the 32-year-old Golota (36-4, 29 knockouts), who is getting $2.2 million. Golota's fourth loss came when he told the referee he had had enough after being knocked down in the 10th round by Michael Grant on Nov. 20, 1999. He had knocked down Grant twice in the first round and was winning when the fight was stopped. In his last two bouts, Golota stopped Marcus Rhode in the third round April 22 in China and scored a 10-round decision against Norris on June 16.
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