Dariusz Michalczewski

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Dariusz Michalczewski bigraphy, stories - Polish-German boxer

Dariusz Michalczewski : biography

5 May 1968 –

Dariusz Michalczewski (born 5 May 1968 in Gdańsk, Poland) is a retired Polish-German professional boxer. Michalczewski is the former Lineal, WBO, WBA, & IBF light-heavyweight champion and WBO cruiserweight champion.

Defection to Germany

On 24 April 1988, while competing in Germany for the Polish national team, Michalczewski defected from the amateur 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, "Tiger."

Amateur 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 139–11–2 (89 KO). 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

In popular culture

  • Tiger Energy Drink is named after the famous boxer. His picture and text "Recommended by Dariusz ‘Tiger’ Michalczewski" appears on the cans and bottles.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Energy_Drink#Facts
  • 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 shot by Frank Papenbroock. 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" took part in Filmfest München and won the award for the Best Documentary at the Biberacher Filmfestspiele.

Professional career

Michalczewski won the German International light-heavyweight title early on 13 February 1993, a title for foreign born fighters based in Germany. He then won the IBF Intercontinental title on 22 May 1993.

Two-weight world champion

On 10 September 1994, Michalczewski, at 23-0 (18 KOs), captured the WBO light-heavyweight title with a 12-round decision over defending champion Leeonzer Barber at Sporthalle, Alsterdorf, Hamburg, Germany. 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 cruiserweight title with a tenth round knockout of Nestor Giovannini. However, he soon gave up that title to continue campaigning as a light-heavyweight.

Hill vs Michalczewski unification

On 13 June 1997, he defeated Virgil Hill over 12 rounds to add Hill’s Lineal, WBA, & 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 was unable to defend his title in a court-ordered defense against mandatory challenger William Guthrie within a little over a month.http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Dariusz_Michalczewski_vs._Virgil_Hill

After beating Hill, Michalczewski knocked out 14 consecutive opponents, all in defense of his Lineal/WBO titles. In 1998, he defeated Drake Thadzi, in 1999 he defeated Montel Griffin, and in 2000 he defeated Graciano Rocchigiani.

Darius would attempt for six years to secure a bout with his American counterpart, Roy Jones Jr, without success. After his titles were stripped from Dariusz, Jones would win Michalczewski’s belts and spuriously declare himself "undisputed world champion". Jones steadfastly refused all offers for a lucrative fight with Darius and even made an attempt to ban the mention of Michalczewski’s name on his home network, HBO. Seth Abraham, president and CEO of HBO, refused Jones demand and in 2002 a fan poll showed that the fight fans most wanted to see was Darius Michalczewski vs Roy Jones Jr. Jones continued to refuse offers for the fight however. One of his motivations may have been the insistence the fight be held in Europe, where Jones feared he could only win by a knockout.