Andrew Golota

Andrzej Jan Gołota (born 5 January 1968), best known as Andrew Golota, is a Polish former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2013.

He challenged four times for a heavyweight world title (by all four major sanctioning bodies), and as an amateur won a bronze medal in the heavyweight division at the 1988 Olympics.

Despite his accomplishments and more than 40 professional wins, Golota is perhaps best known for twice being disqualified against Riddick Bowe for repeated low blows in fights that Golota was winning.

The Warsaw-born, Golota had 111 wins and 10 losses in an amateur career that culminated in his winning a bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics.

Golota won other international amateur tournaments as well.

In 1990, he got into a fight with a machinist "about half a foot and 50 pounds smaller" in a bar in Poland.

Facing charges of assault and battery, he fled rather than risk five years in prison.

Later that year, he married an American citizen of Polish descent and settled in Chicago.

Gołota's Olympic results were as follows:

In 1992, Golota turned professional, knocking out Roosevelt Shuler in three rounds.

He had three more knockouts and then went the distance for the first time, defeating Robert Smith in six rounds.

He won his next 16 fights by knockout.

His wins included Bobby Crabtree and Jeff Lampkin.

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.

He won his next five bouts by knockout.

His opponents included Samson Po'uha and Darnell Nicholson, both of whom were considered fringe contenders at the time.

The win over Po'uha was memorable for the moment in which Gołota bit Po'uha on the side of the neck, two years before the bite-including rematch between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson.

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

Bowe had not fought in nearly a year since his third and final fight with 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 win–loss record.

The fight was held at Madison Square Garden on 11 July 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.

However, Golota's penchant for not following the rules was also showcased in this fight as he took to striking Bowe in the testes.

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 for punching Bowe in the testes, 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 punch directly to the testes, 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 Ring Magazine.

The controversy of Golota vs. Bowe I created interest in a rematch, which was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey on December 14, 1996.

Golota vs. Bowe II was on Pay Per View and Gołota once again led Bowe on the scorecards only to be disqualified in the ninth round by referee Eddie Cotton, again for multiple shots to Bowe's testes.

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's documentary Legendary Nights The Tale of Bowe Golota.

Despite two losses in a row, Gołota became the WBC number one contender.

On October 4, 1997, he became the first Pole to challenge for a heavyweight boxing crown when he fought WBC champion Lennox Lewis at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

On 4 October 1997, he received a shot at the world's Heavyweight championship against Lennox Lewis in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Gołota was knocked out in the first round.

In November 2016, Golota was inducted into the Illinois Boxing Hall of Fame.