Don King held a news conference last week and I got very lucky–I wasn’t invited.
He announced a show for Madison Square Garden April 17 with two heavyweight title fights, eight or nine cruiser-weight title fights and, let’s get ready to grumble, God knows how many more one-sided fights.
But this card has one heavyweight title fight that insults heavyweights all the way back to Sampson. Chris Byrd, the IBF champ, a decent guy and a sensationally boring fighter, is scheduled for 12 rounds against Andrew (Quick More Lithium) Golota of Chicago.
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the lowest, Byrd-Golota is a one-sixteenth. Golota has spent much of the last eight years proving he doesn’t belong anywhere near the top of a Garden card: disqualified for low blows against Riddick Bowe–twice; KO’d by Lennox Lewis in the first round; quit, while ahead, against Michael Grant and quit after two rounds against Mike Tyson.
Golota’s not in anybody’s top 10, yet he’s fighting for a title. He earned it, we’re told, because his comeback consisted of two knockouts. One against a fighter KO’d in four of his last five fights, another vs. a guy with one win in his last seven. For this, Golota deserves a title fight?