Dariusz Michalczewski


Born Dariusz Michalczewsk
May 5, 1968 (1968-05-05) (age 41)
Gdańsk, Poland
Other names The Tiger
Nationality Polish German
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Reach 70.0 in (178 cm)
Stance Orthodox
Fighting out of Hamburg, Germany
Trainer Fritz Sdunek
Years active 1988–2005
Professional boxing record
Total 50
Wins 48
By knockout 38
Losses 2
By knockout 1
Amateur career
Total 150
Wins 133
By knockout 83
Losses 15
By knockout 0
Draws 2
Other information
Official website
Boxing record from Boxrec
Medal record
Competitor for  Poland
Men’s Boxing
European Amateur Championships
Gold 1991 Gothenburg Light Heavyweight

Dariusz Michalczewski (born 5 May 1968, in Gdańsk, Poland) is a German-Polish boxer and former light heavyweight champion.

Early career

Michalczewski came up through Poland's state-run sports program as a boy and had a successful amateur career. He achieved an amateur record of 133-15-2 (83 KO's). Highlights of his amateur career include:

• 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

Defection to Germany

On 24 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."

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 10 September 1994, Michalczewski captured the WBO light heavyweight title with a 12-round decision over defending champion 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 13 June 1997, he defeated Virgil Hill over 7 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.

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 18 October 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, the now 35-year-old Michalczewski was unable to pull it off. He lost a controversial split decision to the 27-year-old Gonzalez at the Color Line Arena in Hamburg, 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 2004, it was announced that Michalczewski would come out of retirement to fight France's Fabrice Tiozzo for the WBA light-heavyweight title on 26 February 2005, in Hamburg. He fought him but he lost, and then he declared the end of his career in May 2005.

Michalczewski was to come out of retirement to fight German boxing icon Sven Ottke in Germany in May 2008, but the bout never materialized.

In popular culture

• Polish Energy drink "Tiger" is named after the famous boxer. His picture and text "Recommended by Dariusz 'Tiger' Michalczewski" appears on the cans and bottles.

• Dariusz Michalczewski struck a friendship with performer Mark Wahlberg known at the time by his stage name Marky Mark of the formation Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. In 1995, Marky Mark released a track called No Mercy about his friend Dariusz Michalczewski including excerpts in Polish language from Dariusz who also appears in the video clip to the song.[1]. No Mercy appears in the album The Remix Album by Prince Ital Joe and Marky Mark, although this particular track is a solo effort by Marky Mark.

• In 2006, a documentary was made by P.M.Starost . The 60-minute documentary entitled "Tiger"[2] took part in Filmfest München and won the award for the Best Documentary at the Biberacher Filmfestspiele.

References

External links

• Official website of Dariusz Michalczewski
• Professional boxing record for Dariusz Michalczewski from Boxrec
• Tiger — A Film By Pawel M Starost

Preceded by
Leeonzer Barber WBO Light Heavyweight Champion
10 September 1994 – 18 October 2003 Succeeded by
Julio César González
Preceded by
Nestor Hipolito Giovannini WBO Cruiserweight Champion
17 December 1994 – January 1995
Vacated Succeeded by
Ralf Rocchigiani
Vacant Michael Spinks Undisputed Light Heavyweight Champion
13 June 1997 – 16 June 1997
Titles fractured Succeeded by
Roy Jones, Jr.
Preceded by
Virgil Hill WBA Light Heavyweight Champion
13 June 1997 – 1 July 1997
Vacated Succeeded by
Lou Del Valle
IBF Light Heavyweight Champion
13 June 1997 – 16 June 1997
Vacated Succeeded by
William Guthrie