CONTROVERSIAL Polish heavyweight Andrew Golota is to fight former Olympic heavyweight champion Ray Mercer on May 16th in Madison Square Garden, it was announced in New York yesterday.

The 29-year-old Golota, who was disqualified in two fights for hitting former undisputed world heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe with low punches despite being ahead on points, said he would behave against Mercer because he played by the rules unlike, Bowe, who was "the dirtiest fighter in the world".

"The gloves were off against Bowe, but Mercer's not that kind of guy. I've never seen him do anything illegal in a fight," said Golota, whose record stands at 28 wins with 25 inside the distance and the two defeats to Bowe

The 35-year-old Mercer, who won gold at the Seoul Olympics while Golota won bronze in the same division, warned Golota that he would not allow him to play dirty.

"He cheated against Bowe and I hope he has fixed his problem. If not then I will," Mercer said.

Mercer, who only took up boxing at the age of 22 when he was in the army so he could avoid a gruelling 30-day winter survival exercise, will be a stern test for the Pole as he lost narrowly on points to current World Boxing Council champion Lennox Lewis in a heavyweight bout last May.