22.05.05 – By Izyaslav “Slava” Koza – My respect and the respect of any boxing fans that has mocked and ridiculed him, for the past couple of months. He gets even more respect because in the post fight interview, he admitted that the disrespect he was receiving from fans, was justly deserved, and as I understand, made him want to prove everybody wrong..
Honestly this is the last thing I, along with Don King and everybody else, expected to happen. Nothing in his previous fights (both arguable wins but for different reasons) indicated he had this, this desire, this animosity in him. I don’t have a problem in admitting that I picked Golota to dispatch him easily, because I think if Brewster was in my shoes he would have done the same thing.
Everything up until the first devastating knockdown made me feel, my prediction was going to be correct. Brewster walked into that ring as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was entering hostile territory, his eyes were down, he looked the way everybody predicted, a lamb being walked to its own destruction. Then bam! And and again! And again and its over! Golota had no chance in there.
Look as great as this victory it does not erase the numerous other times that Brewster has looked less then mediocare. Lets not forget he lost to Clifford Ettiene, and Charles Shufford. Lets not forget that he went to war with Kali “got KTFO by Danny Williams” Meehan, and lets certainly not forget him being almost stopped by Wladimir Klitschko. However again I can respect a guy who coming off this great victory can stand there and say “I understand how the fans felt about the Meehan Brewster fight, because if I was a fan I would feel the same way too.”
As far as Golota, what can I say about him, except that well, if he is a man of his word he will bow out gracefully. The man was forcefully sent back in time to the day when Lennox Lewis knocked him around the ring, and at 37 there isn’t much he can do to get back on top. To add to that, I think he should really swallow his pride and give respect to Brewster who exploited a weakness, I think in retrospect we all forgot about, in praising Golota’s showings against Byrd and Ruiz, and that is Golota’s lack of counter punching ability. The man has always depended on his jab and never could fight on the defensive or going backwards. Furthermore I don’t think it was an issue of Golota’s chin, because he took hard shots from Ruiz and stood up to them for all 12 rounds. Golota did not expect to be pushed backwards at all. He expected to face the same guy Kali Meehan made look horrible, and the man Wlad Klitschko beat on for four and a half rounds.
I think this win really shows how much people can underestimate good motivation. Vince Phillips against Kostya Tsyzu, Diego Corrales against Jose Castillo, I mean even though the past is all fans and writers have to go on, fighters need to remember that each fight is different, and that whatever happened in the past, can only affect them if they want it too. Brewster did not see the Meehan and Wlad fights affecting him in this fight, the way we the fans saw it affecting him, he defied expectations.
Even though I think this aggressive strategy is a one shot deal for Brewster, in that fighters will now know what to expect in the first rounds, it is by no means a fluke. There is a definite danger there, that fighters should be aware of when fighting him. In terms of what this can do for the division I think it sets up a number of interesting possibilities.
The first thing I want to see is Ruiz Brewster, because those are the two champions that can fight the soonest, with Vitali injured, and Byrd set to defend. The winner of this fight should face the winner of the Byrd fight, because again this is a Don King stable, and it will be easier to have a showdown between the ranks of King fighters, then against those like Vitali who are outside those ranks. The winner should then face the winner of the Vitali vs. Brewster/Rahman winner late this year. Another option that would be acceptable is for Brewster to begin fighting half deserving contenders like, Brock, Wlad Klitschko, Nicolai Valuev, or even lesser deserving but exciting Samuel Peter. If Brewster feels he cannot get to unify the belts which is the preferred method, then fighting decent fighters often(key word here), is the next best way to proving you belong among the elite Hopefully it will happen this way, but again just like after the Toney fight, we should hold our breath and hope nothing will spoil this much MUCH needed victory for both Lamon Brewster and the heavyweight division.
There were no judges, no bad stoppages, no mysterious circumstances, just a quick Tyson-esque performance that helped Brewster show he isn’t as bad as people think. Although I still believe he has a way to go, before we induct him into the hall of fame (sarcasm people sarcasm), a KO in 1 over Golota is definitely a step in the right direction.