A question of courage

Danny Williams (right): A study in courage

In the early hours of Saturday morning, Andrew Golota refused to continue after the second round of his contest against Mike Tyson, despite having enjoyed a competitive start to the contest.

Much later in the day, Danny Williams captured the British heavyweight title despite suffering a dislocated right shoulder. Sport Online's Sanjeev Shetty looks at two fighters with very different notions of courage.

In the build-up to his fight with Mike Tyson, Andrew Golota expressed the view that he was always scared before a fight, and would not be any more so against a man with the reputation of the former heavyweight champion.

A study of Golota's ring record intimated that the demons which lurk in his complicated brain are never very far from the surface when he steps into the ring.

In hindsight, while the public and media were so sure his fight with Tyson would resemble something from the World Wrestling Federation, there should have been little surprise that the Pole's erratic temperament would decide the fate of the evening's entertainment.

Coward

The word coward was immediately used to describe Golota's actions. It is hard to justify the actions of a man who walks out of a contest after being paid an estimated $2.2m for his efforts, but those of us who have never stepped into a ring or laced on a pair of gloves really have no business throwing around such labels.

While we cannot identify the cowards, we can certainly celebrate the heroes, like Danny Williams of Brixton.

Much has been expected from the enormous Brixton heavyweight since he turned professional, although very little had been delivered up until his bout with unknown Mike Potter.

A supremely talented fighter with height, size and power, Williams had failed in his first real test as a professional against the experienced but hardly formidable Julius Francis.

And against Potter, Williams struggled to subdue an opponent who most thought would be lucky to survive the first half of the bout after accepting the fight on a week's notice.

Dislocated

When Williams threw an overhand right in the third round, two strange things happened. First, his shoulder dislocated and second, he did not quit.

Most fighters in that position would have taken the easy and understandable route - pull out and live to fight another day. Williams did not have an undefeated record to protect so there was no need for him to risk permanent damage.

But in accepting his injury and fighting through the pain barrier, Williams emulated such greats as Ali, who fought with a broken jaw against Joe Frazier, the two Sugar Rays, Robinson who battled the heavier Joey Maxim while suffering dehydration and Leonard who stopped Thomas Hearns with vision in just one eye, and more recently, the likes of Evander Holyfield who endured 12 rounds against Michael Moorer while suffering an injured shoulder and apparent heart problems.

In short, Williams became a fighter. Some have it and some do not. On this particular day in boxing history, we got all the answers we needed.