NEW YORK -- Sticks and stones and fists, of course, may hurt Andrew Golota but what really cuts the deepest is being called a sissy.

And the Polish heavyweight, his wife says, is going to make his trainer, Al Certo, pay for calling the fighter names after he quit against Mike Tyson in October.

Mariola Golota confirmed to Reuters late Tuesday night that her husband is holding up Certo's pay for training him for the Tyson fight.

Golota quit after the second round of the Oct. 20 fight in Michigan. His doctor later said the fighter had injured his neck and suffered a broken cheekbone in the brief bout.

But Golota was almost universally reviled for quitting when he did not appear to ringsiders to be seriously injured in the fight. Golota was knocked down in the first round but immediately got up and gave a decent accounting of himself.

His purse was held up by executives of Showtime, which, sources said, were irate over Golota quitting.

Mariola Golota confirmed that her husband, who did not come to the phone on Tuesday and whom she said would not talk about boxing these days, agreed to take a cut in pay from $2 million to $1.8 million.

Certo says that he had a verbal agreement with Golota to receive 10 per cent of the fighter's purse.

Golota's wife, however, said that while she did not know the details of Certo's deal she doubted it was for 10 percent.

Certo says Golota has not returned the veteran trainer's phone calls.

Immediately after the fight, Certo, a tailor by trade, said, among unprintable comments, that he makes suits but after Golota's performance he would have to make dresses.

"Should Al Certo get paid for calling Andrew a sissy?" Mariola Golota asked. "Al Certo trained Andrew for the fight and he probably did his best in trying to prepare Andrew .... (but) is a trainer's job only to train, or to have his loyalties in place?"

She said that Showtime held up Golota's check, citing Certo's remarks about Golota's efforts against Tyson.

"If not for Al Certo no one would dare call Andrew a coward. That gave them free rein."

Showtime's head of boxing, Jay Larkin, said on Wednesday that "Al Certo's comments had nothing to do with what we did. We have our own eyes."

Larkin pointed out that several days after the fight Certo retracted his strong criticism against Golota.

Certo criticized Showtime for withholding Golota's check, saying, "if he felt he was hurt enough to quit he was hurt enough to quit, and he should have been paid on that decision."

Mariola Golota, her voice quavering several times in a telephone interview from her Chicago home, said her heart was broken over the criticism of her husband and that Certo's later remarks "were too late". She said that she doesn't think Certo is entitled to his full pay and "we'll probably have to go to court" over the issue.

She also criticized Certo for trying to shove the mouthpiece into Golota's mouth to send him back in against Tyson even though Golota said he wanted to quit.

"If he is a professional, he should have asked Andrew how he was .... I never saw a trainer forcing a fighter (to fight)," she said.

Mariola Golota, a criminal lawyer in Chicago, said it might be "best to sue Al Certo for defamation and let the courts decide."

Asked for his response, Certo said on Wednesday, "is she kidding me or what? What did (Golota) do to my reputation after 52 years in the business? This is a guy who had all the ability to (win) who didn't even attempt to fight."

Mariola Golota said, "thanks to Al if Andrew decides to have this one last fight, no one will want him."

Certo said, "As a promoter you think for one minute if you can make money with Andrew Golota my words will mean anything to you? He owes me $200,000. He got less money because of his performance. It has nothing to do with me."

Kathy Duva, the head of Main Events which promoted Tyson, said on Wednesday that after Golota's performance against Tyson "I wouldn't feel comfortable putting him in the ring. it seems whenever he gets into a big fight it just doesn't work for him."

Golota quit in the 10th round of a fight he was winning against Michael Grant in November, 1999 and was disqualified twice for hitting Riddick Bowe low.

Duva said Main Events does not have Golota under contract any longer and that she was not influenced by Certo's remarks about the fighter in ending her relationship with him.