Golota vs. Ruiz and Golota vs. Byrd

[Duch]

I know how Golota is described on this forum by a majority of people. I know what he did in a lot of his fights during the whole career (e.g. with Bowe).

But try to be objective. A lot of Polish fans (include Polish boxing trainers and commentators) think that Golota won these two fights (with Ruiz and Byrd). I don't remember exactly how they were looked like and who were the real winners but I remember that they weren't one-sided. Mike Tyson said that Golota won both fights and he was cheated by judges, Lennox Lewis said that he won with Byrd.

I want to know opinions of non-Polish fans about exactly THESE TWO fights. And be objective, please. I know that sometimes Golota is a source of funny jokes here. :)

[dempseyfire]

I had Golota losing both fights. Golota knocked Ruiz down but Ruiz won a bunch of ugly rounds by getting in punches before the clinches started.

Vs Byrd I thought a lot of people gave Golota for throwing slow, ineffectual punches when Byrd was on the ropes, but Byrd clearly landed the cleaner more effective punches and outboxed Golota for most of the fight.

Both close fights, but I thought the decisions were definitely fair.

I think there were a lot of non-objective scorecards that had Golota winning b/c people hated the styles of Ruiz and Byrd.

[BoxBuzz]

I had him winning both fights but just barely and DFire may have pegged my bias on these. I preferred Golata's style both times. I also thought the decisions were well within the margin of error.

Golata, Byrd and Ruiz were like watching Moe, Larry and Curly duke it out.....I don't think anybody really took them seriously as championship material, and nobody cared who won.

I would rate Golata at his best, as the better fighter of the three...but overall Chris was likely the best career wise. I just didn't like Ruiz, ever.

[Seamus]

I had Golota winning both fights, by 2 pts if I remember correctly. And he was already past his best at that point.

[polecateddy]

Golota had better than expected nights against a slightly over-the-hill Bryd and particularly Ruiz, who he had on the deck twice was it? He did have a tendency to switch off though, particularly in the championship rounds when fatigue kicked in. If he'd taken a title, he was bound to lose it almost immediately.

[Bobbyptsd]

I'm just reeling from the revelation that Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis are Polish.

[klompton]

I had Golota winning both fights.

[Perseus]

I had Golota/Byrd even and I honestly don't remember how I had the Ruiz fight(and will not watch it again) but I do remember not having an issue with the decision.
The official verdicts for both fights were fair imo.

[Ambling Alp II]

I found the Ruiz fight to be interesting. Golota scored 2 knockdowns and Ruiz got penalized a point. Two of the judges scored it 114-111 for Ruiz. Assuming that Golota got two 10-8 rounds for the rounds with knockdowns, Ruiz would have had to have won 9 out of the other 10 rounds! Does that seem right?

If Golota would have just won 3 of the 10 non-knockdown rounds on two of the judges scorecards, he would have won the fight. That would have salvaged his career.

[gilgamesh]

I never saw the fight with Byrd. I had him winning the Ruiz fight by a point.

[Borinken25]

I had Golota losing both fights. Golota knocked Ruiz down but Ruiz won a bunch of ugly rounds by getting in punches before the clinches started.

Vs Byrd I thought a lot of people gave Golota for throwing slow, ineffectual punches when Byrd was on the ropes, but Byrd clearly landed the cleaner more effective punches and outboxed Golota for most of the fight.

Both close fights, but I thought the decisions were definitely fair.

I think there were a lot of non-objective scorecards that had Golota winning b/c people hated the styles of Ruiz and Byrd.

I have to agree with every word here because that is exactly the way I see it. I had Ruiz winning the majority of the rounds and same for Byrd. In the Byrd fight Golota hardly landed anything of significance.

[DrDuke]

Ruiz succeeded in spoiling the second half of the fight, but still didn't do enough for the victory. Byrd was on the solid defensive mode, but didn't do enough also. I'd say, Golota was robbed of the title twice in a row.