By Geoffrey Ciani: On April 17th, 2004, at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY, IBF heavyweight champion Chris Byrd put his title on the line against former title challenger Andrew Golota. This wound up being a highly entertaining and engaging encounter.
But going into the contest, both Byrd and Golota had a lot to prove. Golota was widely viewed as an unworthy title challenger at that stage, and Byrd was coming off of a controversial victory in his previous bout, which was his first title defense against Fres Oquendo. And despite being champion, Byrd was still largely criticized as being “too small” for the weight.
Byrd and Golota’s respective journeys leading into this one are every bit as important to this story as the fight itself. Golota had previously failed at the highest level, losing high profile matches against former undisputed world heavyweight champion Riddick ‘Big Daddy’ Bowe in 1996. He lost his only previous title shot when he was stopped by WBC champion Lennox Lewis in 95 seconds during their 1997 encounter. And after losing against Tyson in October 2000, it had appeared Golota’s career was over, where he was out of action for approximately 3 years.
Meanwhile, after suffering an early career loss against the highly regarded Ike Ibeabuchi, Byrd won the minor WBO belt (which was not a major world title at the time he won the belt against Vitali Klitschko). Byrd would subsequently lose that belt against Vitali’s younger brother Wladimir, and that fight happened about a week before Golota lost against Tyson. And all the while Golota was apparently retired, Byrd was building himself back up with a string of victories that got him back into title contention. This included an impressive exhibit in the art of the sweet science in August 2001, when Byrd outslicked and outmaneuvered the dangerous David Tua en route to a 12 round unanimous decision. That one was a title eliminator for the IBF, which would later be vacated by Lennox Lewis in September 2002.
Golota made a comeback in 2003, the same year Byrd made his first title defense of the IBF, a controversial decision against Fres Oquendo. This paved the way for the unlikely heavyweight championship between Byrd and Golota, which wound up being one of the best heavyweight title fights around that time. Unfortunately, despite the fact that fight ended in a highly entertaining and somewhat controversial draw, a rematch never came together.
This edition of Rummy’s Corner will provide a classic fight review of the 2004 heavyweight showdown between IBF heavyweight champion Chris Byrd and challenger Andrew Golota. Please watch and enjoy the video for one man’s opinion. This is Rummy’s Corner (produced and narrated by Geoffrey Ciani).