By Tom Donelson
The heavyweight division is just waiting for one guy to take command and unite all the various titles. So far, just when it appears that something good happens, something bad happens. James Toney defeats John Ruiz and then manages to get disqualified as steroids shows up in the post drug test. Ruiz is still the WBA titleholder and Toney is now suspended.
Vitali Klitschko was schedule to fight Hasim Rahman, but various injuries put that fight on hold. Chris Byrd is feuding with Don King and then last Saturday in Chicago, Andrew Golota was given yet one more chance at a Heavyweight title.
Golota is a television drama all by himself. In big fights, Golota manages to do the unexpected. On two occasions against Riddick Bowe, he snatched defeat from the jaws of victory as he got disqualified not once but twice. Against Lennox Lewis, he froze and got knocked out in the first round. Against Tyson, he quit after the second round.
Taking a look at Golota's last two chances at the title, he fought two tough determined foes and came up just a little short. Chris Byrd managed a draw against the Polish slugger and Ruiz escaped with a close decision despite being down twice in the second round. Both fights could have gone in Golota's favor but they didn’t.
Now he had his final shot against Lamon Brewster and appeared to be the favorite. Brewster's past fights consisted of being hit and hoping that his opponent gets tired of hitting him. It worked against Wladimir Klitschko, who managed to win the first 14 minutes and 30 seconds of their encounter. A Brewster left hook changed the fight in the fifth round and Brewster claimed the vacant WBO heavyweight title.
A lack luster victory against Kali Meehan sent Brewster's stock down and no one took his title seriously. In the Meehan fight, he was nearly knocked out in the eighth round and many at ringside felt that Meehan should have won the fight.
For Golota, gaining a win against Brewster and he could have had another big fight with a title in hand. Lose against Brewster and there will be no tomorrow. For Brewster, the Klitschko fight took him out of obscurity but a defeat against Golota would have sent him right back.
At the start of the first round, Brewster came out with a ferocity rarely seen in recent heavyweight bouts. He attacked Golota, who backpedaled immediately. Brewster let loose a five-punch combination that ended with a left hook to the body followed with a left hook to the head. The last left hook of the flurry landed flush, Golota went down and got up looking very dazed. Still shaken, Golota put his gloves back up but Brewster buckled Golota with yet another combination and another left hook that sent Golota through the ropes. Golota struggled to get back up but Brewster finished the job as yet another left hook sent the Polish fighter down for the last time.
The audience stood mostly silent as the Chicago resident struggled to rise after his third knockdown. For sixty seconds, Brewster looked like the second coming of Jack Dempsey as he knocked Golota all over the ring. Shades of the Jess Willard fight where Jack Dempsey sent the taller and bigger Willard down seven times!
Let’s be blunt, Brewster's WBO title is a mere piece of paper but still recognized as a championship belt, which counts for something. In today’s heavyweight division, there is very little credibility among the champions; so one title is as good as the other. One fight does not make a career but the spectacular way that Brewster dispensed with Golota puts him in a new light. Tonight Brewster shined in a heavyweight division starved for any sign of life. Brewster's performance puts him in line for a big fight with one of the other champs. Brewster now actually looks like a fighter who can compete with the elites of the division.