By Rick Reeno
With less then a week away from the November 13th, 2004 heavyweight pay per view in Madison Square Garden, Andrew Golota is still craving a rematch with Chris Byrd. Golota admitted to BoxingScene that he did not even have a desire to fight John Ruiz, but was forced into the bout when a rematch with Chris Byrd was unable to come together.
"This is not the fight I want, I want a rematch with Chris Byrd. Byrd did not want to give me a rematch and I took the John Ruiz fight. I think that we have to fight again to have a winner. There was no winner in our fight and fans deserve to see someone win. I beat Chris Byrd, judges had a draw. He will not fight me again so I have no choice but to fight John Ruiz. " said Golota
Golota admitted that this will be a very difficult fight as the fighting styles of Byrd and Ruiz are as different as night and day.
"Ruiz is a good fighter, he is stronger then Chris Byrd, but not fast like Byrd. Byrd is a better boxer. This will be a tough fight, Ruiz has a tough style"
We touched on the subject of a possible upset by Jameel McCline. What would Golota do if he defeated John Ruiz and Jameel McCline defeated Chris Byrd.
"Very hard to say. If Byrd lose his fight to Jameel McCline, maybe I fight Jameel McCline to get championship belt."
After the very disappointing loss to Mike Tyson several years ago, most experts said that nobody would ever pay to see Andrew Golota fight again. We asked Andrew how he felt being on two pay per views back to back, fighting for the heavyweight title.
"A lot of people said my career was over. I knew that I could still be a world champion. I showed that I am still great fighter in my fight with Byrd"
In closing we asked Andrew if he was looking for a KO or did he think the fight would go the distance.
"It would be nice to get knock out, but I am ready for 12 round fight. I will win this fight and be a world champion."