Was Golota's Quit Legit?

Andrew’s Golota’s highlight reel of missteps, misdeeds and blatant screwups is longer than Sarah Palin’s Saks receipt. And when word filtered back from China that Golota had quit on his stool following a subpar round one against Ray Austin on a Friday Don King card, most fight fans assumed the worst.

Golota, that nut. He pulled another No Mas.

But in fact, video of the fight shows Golota (41-7) showing concern at the state of his left bicep from early on in the first round, and over the course of the first, he looked down at the muscle at least four times.

Golota, age 40, hit the deck three seconds into the first, off a left hook from the 38-year-old Austin (26-4) . And it all went downhill from there. He rose, fought back, and 25 seconds later, after an exchange, and a pause in the action, looked down at the bicep. But he fought on, against the wild, wide swinging Austin. In the last third of the round, that bicep was apparently bothering him so much that he fought one handed, with his left hand dangling limply. Again, Austin smacked him to the mat, but this one was ruled a slip.

Austin then laid another flurry on Golota, and knocked his mouthpiece out with an uppercut. The round ended shortly after that event, and there was some discussion in the Golota corner. He told his team that the bicep rendered him a one-handed fighter, and the ref was informed that Golota could not continue.

This situation happening to a fighter without Golota’s rich history of tragicomedic jackpots wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. But this is Golota…so the rumor mill starts churning, and the 9-11 Truthers of the fight game start speculating.

To my eye, a 40-year-old man’s body gave out in China, but his heart didn’t.

It sure looked to me like Golota’s “quit” was legit.