By Johnny Walker
Retired former heavyweight contender Andrew Golota is facing deportation from the United States back to his native Poland.
The Chicago Tribune reports that Golota, 44, has been living in the US as a legal landed immigrant with a Green Card. However, when he applied for American citizenship, a routine criminal background check revealed arrests within the US in the last decade.
Golota was hit with a firearms violation in 2006, and was charged with impersonating a police officer when he flashed an honorary New Jersey police badge after being pulled over in 2003.
Golota’s wife, Mariola, a US citizen, says the deportation case is “this big, black cloud that’s hanging over our family.”
Golota’s professional record is 41-8-1 with 33 KOs. He last fought in 2009, when he was stopped by fellow Pole Tomasz Adamek.
A decision on the case is expected by September.