Early Quitting Time for Golota

Another sad, strange chapter in the story of Mike Tyson was written Friday night, and this time it was not Tyson’s doing.

Andrew Golota quit in his corner before the third round of their scheduled 10-round heavyweight fight at the Palace of Auburn Hills, and Tyson was declared the winner by technical knockout.

Golota was cut and knocked down in the first round and frustrated by what he thought were head butts that went unpunished. But he survived the second round and appeared to have regained some momentum and frustrated Tyson with effective counterpunching.

Before the bell for the third round, Golota stood and rested against the ring ropes in his corner. But as trainer Al Certo tried to put in his mouthpiece, Golota spit it out and refused to take it. He then walked away from his corner toward the center of the ring. When referee Frank Garza intercepted him and tried to talk him back to his corner, Golota pushed him away and indicated he’d had enough.

“What are you doing? What are you doing?” yelled Certo, clearly frustrated.

Garza then signaled the bout over, and Tyson yelled across the ring at his opponent, who was already moving toward the ropes. As Golota exited the ring, fans in the crowd of 16,228 threw beer, popcorn and debris at him.

In his dressing room, a visibly shaken Golota complained of head butts and told a television interviewer, “Nobody took care of this.”

He offered a half-hearted apology “to all my fans” and said, “Boxing is a very, very difficult sport.”

Tyson came out at the opening bell trying to stay low as he threw left jabs and hooks, while Golota used his reach to keep Tyson away. Midway through the round, Golota landed a left-right combination to blunt Tyson’s attack. Golota was cut beside his left eye by a hook. As the two came into close range, Tyson caught Golota with a thunderous overhand right and dropped him in the final seconds of the round.

Golota was having a hard time finding the crouching Tyson with uppercuts in the second round. Tyson stunned Golota with another right, and the two almost bumped heads along the ropes as Tyson rose from his crouch.

As they flurried at the end of the round, Golota kept missing his shots. He returned to his corner bleeding below the left eye.

Then came the tumultuous scene before the third round.

“I’ve never seen anything like that, but Golota has quit before,” said Tyson’s trainer, Tommy Brooks, who earlier this week said he feared Golota might suffer an anxiety attack against his ferocious fighter.

There will certainly be fallout from the feeble finish to this much-anticipated brawl. Besides the booing from the fans at the Palace, there were no doubt similarly disillusioned viewers who bought the pay-per-view event.

Ring announcer Jimmy Lennon declared that Golota had “refused to enter the ring for Round 3,” and therefore Tyson was winner by technical knockout. His overall record improved to 49-3. Golota’s record dropped to 36-5.

In the main undercard bout, International Boxing Federation junior welterweight champion Zab Judah retained his title with a workmanlike but unspectacular victory over challenger Hector Quiroz.

Judah dominated the fight but could not put Quiroz down. At 1:56 of the eighth round, referee Dale Grable decided the swelling and cuts around the challenger’s right eye warranted the ringside physician’s examination.

That led to stoppage of the fight and a technical knockout victory for Judah, who ran his record to 25-0. Quiroz is 31-5-1.

Laila Ali, 22-year-old daughter of former heavyweight champ Muhammad Ali, ran her record to 8-0 with a unanimous decision over wild-swinging Kim Lenhart.