Robert Edward Czyz ( ; born February 10, 1962) is an American retired boxer and commentator. Czyz was a two-division world titlist at light heavyweight and cruiserweight. Czyz was born in

Orange, New Jersey The City of Orange is a township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 30,134, reflecting a decline of 2,734 (−8.3%) from the 32,868 counted in 2000. Orange was original ...

. He grew up in

Wanaque, New Jersey Wanaque () is a borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 11,116,Lakeland Regional High School. He is three quarters Italian and one quarter Polish. His younger brother is

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...

fiction writer

Vincent Czyz Vincent Czyz (/ˈtʃɛz/ ''Chez''; born 1963) is an American writer and critic of Literary fiction. His work often explores mythological motifs, religious themes, and dreams as a substrate of reality. Biography Vincent Czyz was born in Orang ...

. Nicknamed "the Matinee Idol", Czyz was a member of the United States amateur

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

team whose other members died aboard

LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 was an Ilyushin Il-62 that crashed near Okęcie Airport in Warsaw, Poland, on 14 March 1980, as the crew aborted a landing and attempted to go-around. All 87 crew and passengers died. It was caused by the disintegr ...

when it crashed in 1980. Czyz did not make the trip as he was recovering from injuries sustained in a car accident.

Amateur career

As an amateur, Czyz was doing his best to secure his spot at the U.S. Olympic team for the eventually missed 1980 Moscow Olympics. He was one of a few boxers (along with Sal Cenicola and Tony Tucker) who survived the

LOT Flight 7 LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 was an Ilyushin Il-62 that crashed near Okęcie Airport in Warsaw, Poland, on 14 March 1980, as the crew aborted a landing and attempted to go-around. All 87 crew and passengers died. It was caused by the disinteg ...

crash by staying at home in the United States. He finished his amateur career having 26 fights under his belt, with a record of 24 wins, 2 losses.Bobby Czyz Amateur Record
at the BoxingRecords. Last updated : March 1, 2006.

Professional career

Czyz had a quick start to his professional boxing career in the early 1980s, and he was soon in line for a shot against world

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

champion Marvin Hagler. He had to start from scratch, however, after suffering a one-sided, 10-round loss at the hands of veteran

Mustafa Hamsho Mustafa Hamsho ( ar, مصطفى حمشو; born 10 October 1953) is a Syrian former professional boxer who competed from 1975 to 1989, challenging twice for the undisputed middleweight world title in 1981 and 1984. Professional career The Syrian S ...

on November 20, 1982 in a bout that was nationally televised. Czyz went up in weight, put another string of wins together, and in September 1986, he finally found himself in a ring with an undefeated world champion, IBF light heavyweight champion

Slobodan Kačar Slobodan Kačar ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Качар; born 15 September 1957) is a retired Serbian boxer who was the IBF Light-Heavyweight world champion. He won the Light Heavyweight Gold medal for Yugoslavia at the 1980 Summer Olympics. In t ...

(Olympic Gold medallist of 1980). Czyz beat him in five rounds. Czyz made three defenses: a one-round defeat of David Sears, a see-saw second-round KO of Willie Edwards, and a fifth-round TKO of Jim McDonald - before taking on 'Prince' Charles Williams in October 1987. Czyz scored an early knockdown of Williams, yet the challenger not only stayed in the fight, but also hammered shut Czyz' left eye en route to scoring a TKO victory and thus seizing the title after eight rounds of boxing. Czyz then lost a decision to

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 W ...

in May 1988, followed by a couple of victories, in turn followed by two cracks at the world title in 1989. Czyz, despite truly good efforts on his part in both challenges, lost both of them - a 12-round decision to Virgil Hill in North Dakota for the WBA version in March, and a 10th-round TKO loss to Williams in an IBF title rematch in June. Czyz went on to stop then-undefeated Andrew Maynard in seven rounds (the second undefeated Gold medallist he KO'd) in June 1990, then jumped up to cruiserweight. He challenged Robert Daniels for Daniels' WBA world cruiserweight championship in March 1991, and won a unanimous decision. Two defenses, against Bash Ali and Donny Lalonde, were made (both by unanimous decision) before Czyz vacated the title. In 1994, Czyz became a television boxing analyst working alongside Steve Albert and

Ferdie Pacheco Fernando Pacheco Jimenez, M.D. (December 8, 1927 – November 16, 2017) known publicly as Ferdie Pacheco, was the personal physician and cornerman for world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali as well as numerous other boxing champions. ...

whilst continuing his boxing career. The trio covered fights in many locations worldwide. In December 1994, he covered the first world title fight ever held in

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

as a member of Showtime's crew. In 1996, he stepped up to the heavyweight division, but lost 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 strikin ...

in five rounds to

Evander Holyfield Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the Undisputed championship (boxing), undisputed champion at cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight in the late 1 ...

and quickly retired. Czyz fought one last time in 1998, losing by second-round TKO to South African Corrie Sanders. Czyz continued doing

color commentary A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and the ...

for Showtime, but was let go after pleading guilty to his fourth drunken-driving offense in six years after being caught speeding in

Readington Township, New Jersey Readington Township is a township located in the easternmost portion of Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 16,126, reflecting an increase of 323 (+2.0%) from the 15,803 ...

. Czyz's case received a lot of attention as he was a multiple repeat

DUI Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

case, and was a driver behind the NJ Assembly revisiting its legislation.
Czyz, who was a Raritan Township, New Jersey resident at the time, was given a six-month license suspension for each of his three drunken driving convictions in 1998, 1999 and 2000. It was discovered that he was sentenced improperly as a first-time offender after his fourth arrest, which occurred in February 2003 in Readington Township, where he was caught driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.14 percent. The state limit at that time was 0.10 percent.

Professional boxing record

Outside the ring

Czyz married actress and photographer Kimberly Ross (October 8, 1959 – December 19, 2006) on October 27, 1992. Their daughter, Mercedes Czyz, was born September 27, 1993. They were divorced by the time Kimberly died, after a long battle with breast cancer, aged 47. He has since been inducted into the Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame. Czyz is a member of Mensa, the organization for people who have scored in the highest 2% of takers in an IQ test. He even wore a shirt with "MENSA" on it while walking to the ring to fight Evander Holyfield.

References

External links