Przemysław Saleta (born 7 March 1968) is a Polish professional boxer, as well as a former

kickboxer Kickboxing is a combat sport focused on kicking and punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is practiced for self-defense, general ...

and mixed martial artist.

Achievements

Kickboxing: *1990 W.A.K.O. World Championships in Madrid, Spain -91 kg (Full-Contact) *1990 W.A.K.O. World Championships in Mestre, Italy -91 kg (Full-Contact) * I.S.K.A. world champion * I.S.K.A. European champion *Polish Championship Boxing: *2002 E.B.U. European heavyweight champion (0 title defences) *2001 Polish international heavyweight champion *1999 I.B.O. intercontinental cruiserweight champion (0 title defences) *1994 W.B.C. international cruiserweight champion *1992 Florida State cruiserweight champion (2 title defences)

Boxing

After a successful

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

career, Saleta became a professional boxer in 1991, fighting at cruiserweight. He won his first three fights by

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

before suffering his first defeat at the hands of Tim Martin in his fourth bout in 1992. After a one-point victory over an aging

Dennis Andries Dennis Andries MBE (born 5 November 1953) is a British former professional boxer who fought at light heavyweight. Professional career Andries turned pro in 1978 and won the WBC Light Heavyweight Title in 1986 in a decision over American JB ...

in 1994, he was named as part of ''

Ring Magazine ''The Ring'' (often called ''The Ring'' magazine or ''Ring'' magazine) is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into questio ...

s Top 10. He fell out of that list later that year, however, when he was knocked out by John McClain in the first round. In 1995, he moved up to the

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...

division and on December 9, 1995, he fought Croatian

Željko Mavrović Željko Mavrović (; ; born 17 February 1969) is a Croatian former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 1998. In 1998, as an undefeated challenger, he faced Lennox Lewis for the WBC heavyweight title, but lost in what would be his fin ...

for the

EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...

Heavyweight title, but lost by KO in the first round. He then remained inactive for almost two years. In May 2001, he won the Polish Heavyweight Championship by beating Ratko Draskovic via unanimous decision and on July 20, 2002, he was given another shot at the European title against the unbeaten defending champion Luan Krasniqi. Krasniqi dominated the start of the fight and was clearly well ahead on points. In the second half of the fight, he suffered stamina problems that led him to give up after the eighth round. In his first defense of the European Championship title three months later, he met

Sinan Samil Sam Sinan (Arabic: سنان ''sinān'') is a name found in Arabic and Early Arabic, meaning ''spearhead''. The name may also be related to the Ancient Greek name Sinon. It was used as a male given name. Etymology The word is possibly stems from th ...

and was knocked out in the seventh round. Also, in the subsequent rematch against Krasniqi, he lost by TKO in the first. After a further two-year break, he returned in 2005 to beat Raman Sukhaterin and then again in a loss to

Oliver McCall Oliver McCall (born April 21, 1965) is an American former professional boxer. A veteran of the sport for over three decades, he is best known for winning the WBC heavyweight title in 1994 by scoring an upset knockout victory over Lennox Lewis. T ...

. In his last bout before retirement from the sport, he defeated

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Ed Perry by unanimous decision in February 2006 to bring his record to 43 wins and 7 losses.

Mixed martial arts

On June 2, 2007, Saleta made his mixed martial arts debut against Belarusian opponent Martin Malhasyan at '' KSW VII''. He lost the fight by a rear-naked choke in the first round. Despite his retirement from professional sport, he then returned to action after calling out fellow ex-boxer Marcin Najman at ''KSW XIV'' in September 2010. Both used to be friends and are known to have an ongoing feud which goes back a number of years. Personal insults in press happened regularly before and even after the fight, which Saleta won by submission due to a forearm choke.

Media career

From January 2007 to November 2007, Saleta was part of the Polish edition of '' Gentleman's Magazine'', and from September 28 to November 16, 2007, he was a contestant on the Polish version of ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series presented by Phillip Schofield alongside Holly Willoughby from 2006 to 2011, who then returned in 2018, and Christine Bleakley from 2012 to 2014. The series features celebrities and their profe ...

''. His partner was Agata Rosłońska. However, they resigned after the 8th round of the program. He also took part in the Polish version of ''Fort Boyard''. Since October 6, 2008, he has been running his program ''Gadżety Salety'' on Polsat Play Channel.

Private life

He was married twice. His first wife was Ewa Pacula, a former Polish model. They have a daughter named Nicola, born in 1994. His second wife was Ewa Byzdra-Saleta. They have a daughter named Nadia, born in 2002.

K-1 record

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Win , align=center, 1-1 , Marcin Najman , Submission (forearm choke) , KSW 14: Judgment Day , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:14 , Lódz, Poland , , - , Loss , align=center, 0-1 , Martin Malchasjan , Submission (rear-naked choke) , KSW VII , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:43 , Warsaw, Poland , MMA debut

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* *
Saleta on Sherdog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saleta, Przemyslaw 1968 births Living people Sportspeople from Wrocław Polish male kickboxers Heavyweight boxers Polish male mixed martial artists Heavyweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing Mixed martial artists utilizing kickboxing European Boxing Union champions Polish male boxers