Heavyweight Andrew Golota Believes It’s His Time

Warsaw native Andrew “Powerful Pole” Golota gets his second chance at a heavyweight championship this year when he takes on current World Boxing Association Champion John Ruiz in the main event on Don King's “Rendezvous with Destiny: Battle for Supremacy” fightcard at Madison Square Garden on November 13.

Golota (38-4-1) surprised many by fighting brilliantly against World Boxing Council Champion Chris Byrd this past April 17th.  While the former Polish national amateur champion appeared to have outworked the elusive Byrd, Golota had to settle with the judge's decision – calling the 12 round battle a draw.

“At the end of the fight (against Byrd) what can I do?” stated Golota, who added “I tried to force him (Byrd) to fight me again, but he didn't want to.”

Ruiz (40-5-1), fresh off his eleventh round knockout of the tough Fres Oquendo on the same Don King April 17th fightcard (also at Madison Square Garden), may be a more difficult fight than Golota bargained for.

“This is a great fight for me” the likeable Ruiz said via conference call.  “This fight will be tough -they all are, but I'll put the pressure on him and he'll either quit or I knock him out,” exclaimed the two-time world champion.

This fightcard, which will be televised on HBO Pay-Per-View, also includes Byrd against Jameel McCline, former champion Hasim Rahman taking on Kali Meehan and four-time world champion Evander Holyfield faces Larry Donald.

Golota's only other world championship opportunity was in 1997, suffering a first round knockout at the hands of then WBC World Champion Lennox Lewis.  This may be the 36 year old Golota's last chance and the “Powerful Pole” seems ready, “It's my time now, the time has come right now!”

With both fighters coming in at close to 240lbs. and neither guy looking to take a backward step, this scheduled twelve round championship fight might end a lot sooner than that!
 
Tickets for promoter extraordinare Don King's “Rendezvous with Destiny:Battle for Supremacy” are available at the Madison Square Garden box office and all Ticketmaster locations or by calling TicketMaster at (212) 307-7171 or (201) 507-8989. HBO Pay-Per-View will begin its national telecast at 9PM (EST).