Lewis Defends Heavyweight Title on Quick Knockout of Golota

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. â€”  Instead of waiting to see if heavyweight Andrew Golota’s reputation as a dirty fighter was valid or not, Lennox Lewis quickly took matters into his own hands Saturday night at the Atlantic City Convention Center.

As he predicted, Lewis exposed Golota as an overrated challenger with a brutal knockout 1:35 into the first round to defend his World Boxing Council title before a crowd of 13,889.

In an undercard bout, Arturo Gatti retained his International Boxing Federation junior-lightweight title when he knocked out Gabriel Ruelas 2:22 into the fifth round.

Lewis, who improved to 32-1 with 26 knockouts, seemed to relish his role as underdog with the majority of the crowd in support of Golota.

After two weird victories defending his WBC title against Oliver McCall and Henry Akinwande--two fighters who failed to give much of a battle--Lewis considered his fight with Golota his best chance to make a statement to the boxing world.

Under the guidance of trainer Emanuel Steward, Lewis consistently said he would knock out Golota, who hadn’t fought since being disqualified for low blows in two fights against Riddick Bowe last year.

“I wanted to get rid of all of the misfits in the heavyweight world,� said Lewis, who connected on 30 of 36 punches. “Golota was the last on my list.�

From the opening bell, Lewis hit Golota at will. He used a variety of punches with his first damaging blow being an overhand right. After taking several left and right hooks to the body and head, Golota fell to the canvas and appeared to be finished when he got to his feet before the 10-count.

Once standing, however, Golota tried to regain his composure but stumbled around the ring and only a generous pause by referee Joe Cortez allowed him to continue. When the fight resumed, Lewis jumped all over Golota, who quickly fell again before Cortez stopped the bout.

For Golota, it was the first time in his career that he had been knocked out. After the fight, he was taken to a local hospital on a stretcher and was expected to be kept overnight because of a panic attack, according to his trainer, Lou Duva.

“This is one of my finest hours in my career,� said Lewis, who indicated that he wanted to unify the heavyweight championship belts early next year with a fight against the winner of the Evander Holyfield-Michael Moorer bout in November.

Whereas Golota benefited--at least for a moment--from a long look from a referee, Ruelas thought that his fight was stopped prematurely.

In his best effort in years, Ruelas--the former WBC junior-lightweight champion--had fought evenly with Gatti going into the fifth round with an effective uppercut attack that had Gatti in trouble several times in the third and fourth rounds. But in the fifth, Ruelas was dropped with a short left hook from Gatti, who had suffered a cut below his left eye in the third round.

In another undercard fight, welterweight Fernando Vargas, a former U.S. Olympian, remained unbeaten with a fourth-round knockout of Alex Quiroga.