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Revision as of 18:09, 15 September 2007
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Representing  Poland
| ||
| Men’s Boxing | ||
| European Amateur Championships | ||
 |
1991 Gothenburg | Light Heavyweight |
| Dariusz Michalczewski | |
|---|---|
| Born | Dariusz Michalczewski (1968-05-05) May 5, 1968 (age 56) Gdańsk, Poland |
| Nationality | Polish 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 |
Dariusz Michalczewski pseudonym: Tiger (born May 5, 1968 in Gdańsk, Poland) is a former light heavyweight boxer of Polish descent.
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, 190 pound (86 kg) 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 gained global recognition as the World Light Heavyweight Champion when he defeated Virgil Hill over 12 rounds to add Hill's Linear, 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 & Linear 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 controversial 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.
Dariusz could have been a successful heavyweight. Like Floyd Patterson whose height of 6 feet/183cm and average reach (71 inches) meant he was more adapted to the light heavyweight division, Michalczewski was a successful light heavyweight champion. He will be rememebred for 48 wins and for almost equaling Joe Louis 25 successful title defenses.
| Preceded byLeeonzer Barber | WBO Light Heavyweight Champion 10 Sep 1994–18 Oct 2003 |
Succeeded byJulio César González |
| Preceded byNestor Hipolito Giovannini | WBO Cruiserweight Champion 17 Dec 1994–Jan 1995 Vacated |
Succeeded byRalf Rocchigiani |
| Preceded byVirgil Hill | WBA Light Heavyweight Champion 13 Jun 1997–1 Jul 1997 Vacated |
Succeeded byLou Del Valle |
| Preceded byVirgil Hill | IBF Light Heavyweight Champion 13 Jun 1997–16 Jun 1997 Vacated |
Succeeded byWilliam Guthrie |
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