Dariusz Michalczewski
Dariusz Michalczewski | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Born | Dariusz Michalczewski May 5, 1968 |
| Nationality |  Polish |
| Other names | The Tiger |
| Statistics | |
| Weight(s) | Light Heavyweight |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 50 |
| Wins | 48 |
| Wins by KO | 38 |
| Losses | 2 |
| Draws | 0 |
| No contests | 0 |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Representing Poland
| ||
| Men’s Boxing | ||
| European Amateur Championships | ||
 |
1991 Gothenburg | Light Heavyweight |
Dariusz "The Tiger" Michalczewski (born May 5, 1968, in Gdańsk, Poland) is a former light heavyweight boxer from Poland.
Early career
Michalczewski came up through Poland's state-run sports program as a boy and had a successful amateur career. On 24th April 1988, while competing in Germany for the Polish national team, Michalczewski defected from the team to stay in Germany. Becoming a citizen of Germany in 1991 and turning professional the same year, he was soon signed by Universum Box-Promotion, one of the leading boxing promoters in Europe. His aggressive style earned him the nickname "The Tiger." Despite going undefeated for the first 12 years of his professional career and threatening several major records, Michalczewski was criticized for rarely fighting outside of Germany.
Michalczewski lives with his family in Hamburg, Germany.
Professional career
He won the German international light heavyweight (175-pound) title early on 13 February 1993, the title is for foreign born fighters based in Germany. He then won the IBF Intercontinental championship on 22 May 1993. Finally, on September 10 1994, Michalczewski captured the WBO light heavyweight title with a 12-round decision over Leeonzer Barber.
Between then and March 2003, Michalczewski made 23 successful defenses of his WBO title and picked up three other belts along the way. Three months after beating Barber, he won the WBO's cruiserweight title with a knockout of Nestor Giovannini. However, he soon gave up that title to continue campaigning as a light heavyweight.
On June 13, 1997, he defeated Virgil Hill over 12 rounds to add Hill's WBA and IBF titles to his own. However, Michalczewski soon lost both alphabet titles. The WBA stripped him for displaying its belt along with that of the WBO, an organization it didn't recognize. The IBF did so a few weeks later, when Michalczewski refused to defend his title against mandatory challenger William Guthrie within 30 days.
After beating Hill, Michalczewski knocked out 14 consecutive opponents, all in defense of his WBO titles. On 1998, he defeated Drake Thadzi and in 2000 he went to defeat Graciano Rocchigiani. However, he drew some criticism for never fighting outside Germany, and also for never facing Roy Jones Jr.. Shortly after Michalczewski beat Hill, Jones eventually captured the other three major belts in the division. Boxing fans began to clamor for the two men to meet one another in the ring, but it never happened. Universum was reluctant to make a fight for Michalczewski, a huge draw in Germany, anywhere else. Meanwhile, Jones still harbored bad memories of being robbed of a gold medal in the 1988 Olympic Games and preferred to fight only in his native United States.
Even without facing Jones, Michalczewski has posted some impressive victories, including those over Richard Hill, Derrick Harmon, Thadzi and former world champions Graciano Rocchigiani and Montell Griffin.
Michalczewski had a perfect record of 48 wins and no losses when he faced Julio César González of Mexico in defense of his title on October 18, 2003. Coming into the fight, he was within one victory of tying Rocky Marciano's all-time record for an undefeated record by a world championship boxer. A win also would have put him just one victory short of Joe Louis' all-time record for successful defenses at any weight class. However, Michalczewski was unable to pull it off. He lost a split decision to Gonzalez at the Color Line Arena in Hamburg, Germany and his career record dropped to 48-1.
Despite the loss, he still holds the record for the most consecutive successful title defenses at light heavyweight.
In October of 2004, it was announced that Michalczewski would fight France's Fabrice Tiozzo for the WBA light-heavyweight title on February 26, 2005, in Hamburg. He fought him but he lost, and then he declared the end of his career in May 2005.
Amateur career
Amateur Record: 133-15-2 (83 KO's)
- 1986 – European Junior Semi-Finalist in Middleweight division, defeating Fabrice Tiozzo but losing to Ray Close
- 1990 – German National Champion in Light Heavyweight division
- 1991 – European Champion in Light Heavyweight division
External links
- Official website of Dariusz Michalczewski
- Boxing record for Dariusz Michalczewski from BoxRec (registration required)
- Tiger — A Film By Pawel M Starost