Brewster KO1 Golota: Prayers Bring New Life
Greg Smith - 5/22/2005
One day before the WBO heavyweight title fight between Lamon Brewster and Andrew Golota, I told a fellow New Jersey-based writer that the best thing that could happen in this fight was that Andrew Golota would take a ten count against Lamon Brewster. I truly wasn’t sure if Brewster could pull it off, but I knew it was the best outcome if it happened.
Taking it a step further, I said I would actually say a prayer just before the fight with hopes of the wish becoming reality. I don’t wish permanent or serious injury on any fighter, but I strongly felt the heavyweight division would be injected with new life with a definitive knockout to supplant the rash of boring and controversial decisions we’ve been accustomed to in the last few years.
Golota had been recycled many times, and melted down in several of his most noteworthy fights. His persona is more sinister than sincere. We needed Lamon Brewster, not Andrew Golota, to prevail with a clear and decisive ending. In short, we needed what heavyweights are supposed to provide ---power and knockouts. Power and knockouts capture the attention and imagination of both hardcore and casual fans alike, and we needed it to come from a heavyweight who speaks softly and carries a big stick. No trash talk, no positive drug tests, no controversial stoppages or politicized decisions; just a nice, clean, old fashioned knockout. That’s why the heavyweight division emerged like a phoenix from the ashes when Mike Tyson bombed out the division twenty years ago after the lost era of Tubbs, Witherspoon, Thomas, Tillis, and Berbick.
Unlike Tyson, with Brewster, we won’t have to worry about outside-the-ring issues. Rather, the only thing we need to worry about with Lamon is if he’ll be the Mike Weaver of this era; sometimes stunningly explosive and sometimes inexplicably passive.
In the end, my prayer of Golota taking a ten count wasn’t answered, but Brewster’s first round blitz of The Foul Pole was exactly what we needed. Brewster’s win was quick, brutal, and devastating. Most importantly, Brewster’s win arguably catapults him into the #2 slot amongst heavyweight belt holders. Vitali Klitschko is the only belt holder who can stake a clear claim as being the top dog in the division over Brewster right now.
On my scorecard, Byrd actually lost to Golota. Additionally, Golota probably beat Ruiz as well. The bouts were inconclusive to many, and reminded us all that the true action in this business is in the lower weight classes. Lamon Brewster changed all of that Saturday night.
Let’s just hope and pray that Don King and the sanctioning bodies allow the fighters to keep the division going in the right direction. We're on the cusp of a renaissance in the division, and only politics can keep unification and some refreshing pier six brawls from occurring.
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