Dariusz Tomasz Michalczewski (born 5 May 1968) is a Polish former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who competed from 1991 to 2005. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the WBA, IBF,

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

and lineal

light heavyweight Light heavyweight, also referred to as junior cruiserweight or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruise ...

titles between 1994 and 2003, and the WBO junior-heavyweight title from 1994 to 1995.

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currently ranks him No.63 in its ranking of the greatest

pound for pound Pound for pound is a ranking used in combat sports, such as boxing, wrestling, or mixed martial arts, of who the better fighters are irrespective of their weight, i.e. adjusted to compensate for weight class. As these fighters do not compete direc ...

boxers of all time.

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 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 ...

division, defeating

Fabrice Tiozzo Fabrice Tiozzo (born May 8, 1969) is a French former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2006. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC light-heavyweight title from 1995 to 1997, the WBA cruiserweight title ...

but losing to Ray Close *1990 – German National Champion in

division *

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

– European Champion in light heavyweight division

Defection to Germany

On 24 April 1988, while competing beyond the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

for the Polish national team, Michalczewski defected from the amateur team to stay in West Germany. Becoming a citizen of the now united 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 Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. His aggressive style earned him the nickname "Tiger".

Professional career

Michalczewski turned professional in September 1991. He won the German International

light-heavyweight Light heavyweight, also referred to as junior cruiserweight or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruise ...

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

light-heavyweight title with a 12-round decision over defending champion

Leeonzer Barber Leeonzer Barber (born February 18, 1966 in Detroit) was an American professional boxer who held the WBO light-heavyweight title from 1991 to 1994. Professional career Barber turned pro in 1986. In just his 13th fight he won the vacant WBO light ...

at Sporthalle, Alsterdorf, Hamburg, Germany. Between then and March 2003, Michalczewski made 23 successful defenses of his WBO title against 20 different boxers, 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. In 1996, Universum Box-Promotion's conditioning coach

Fritz Sdunek Fritz Sdunek (; 18 April 1947 – 22 December 2014) was a German professional boxing trainer and previously an amateur boxer. Regarded as one of the most successful and famous boxing trainers, he trained, among others, such world champions as Wla ...

became head coach and replaced Chuck Talhami as Michalczewski's trainer, which resulted in a marked improvement in Michalczewski's performances.

Hill vs Michalczewski unification

On 13 June 1997, he defeated Virgil Hill over 12 rounds to add Hill's WBA, IBF and Lineal light-heavyweight titles to his own. However, Michalczewski soon lost both alphabet titles; Scandalously, the WBA immediately stripped him for displaying its belt along with that of the WBO. Michalczewski was then forced to relinquish the IBF title when he was unable to defend the title in a court-ordered defense against

mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight or be forced to vacate their title as champion. A mandatory defence is the opposite of a voluntary defence, where the champ ...

William Guthrie within a little over a month after the bout with Hill. After beating Hill, Michalczewski knocked out 14 consecutive opponents, all in defense of his ''Lineal''/WBO titles. In 1998, he defeated

Drake Thadzi Drake Thadzi (born November 23, 1964, in Lilongwe) is a Malawian former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 1998, twice challenging for a light heavyweight world title in 1995 and 1998. As am amateur, he competed at the 1984 Summer Olym ...

, in 1999, he defeated Montel Griffin, and in 2000, he defeated Graciano Rocchigiani.

Going for Marciano's record

Michalczewski had a perfect record of 48-0 when he faced Julio César González of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

in defense of his title on 18 October 2003. Coming into the fight, he was within one victory of tying

Rocky Marciano Rocco Francis Marchegiano (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969; ), better known as Rocky Marciano (, ), was an American professional boxer who competed from 1947 to 1955, and held the world heavyweight title from 1952 to 1956. He is the onl ...

's record of 49 wins with no losses. A win also would have put him just one victory short of

Joe Louis Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He re ...

' all-time record for successful defenses at any weight class. However, as when Larry Holmes went for the same record against Michael Spinks, the now 35-year-old Michalczewski was unable to pull it off. He lost a split decision to the 27-year-old Gonzalez at the

Color Line Arena The Barclays Arena (originally known as the Color Line Arena and formerly known as barclaycard arena and O2 World Hamburg) is a multipurpose arena in Hamburg, Germany. It opened in 2002 and can hold up to 16,000 people (13,800 or 12,947 for sp ...

in Hamburg, and his career record dropped to 48-1. Despite the loss, he still holds the record for the most consecutive successful world title defenses at light-heavyweight.

Final fight

In October 2004, it was announced that Michalczewski would come out of retirement to box France's

for the WBA light heavyweight title on 26 February 2005 in Hamburg. Michalczewski was stopped in six round, then he announced his retirement 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

* Tiger Energy Drink 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 Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), former stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, businessman, and former rapper. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Mark Wahlberg, multiple accolades, including a B ...

, known at the time by his stage name

Marky Mark Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), former stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, businessman, and former rapper. He has received multiple accolades, including a BAFTA Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, three ...

of the formation

Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch was an American hip-hop group formed in 1991 by Mark Wahlberg (alias Marky Mark), Scott Gee, Hector the Booty Inspector, DJ-T, and Ashey Ace. The group's best known song is "Good Vibrations", which made it to number ...

. In 1995, Marky Mark released a track called " No Mercy" about his friend Dariusz Michalczewski, including excerpts in Polish 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 Joe Paquette (May 5, 1963 – May 16, 2001), better known by his stage name Prince Ital Joe, was a Dominican rapper of reggae and ragga best known for his collaborations with Marky Mark and Death Row Records artists. Prince Ital Joe also did som ...

and Marky Mark, although this particular track is a solo effort by Marky Mark. *In 2006, a documentary was made by Pawel Kocambasi alias 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.

Social involvement

In 2003 Dariusz Michalczewski established foundation "Równe Szanse" (equal chances) which was aimed at supporting initiatives for youth from dysfunctional families. Since 2014 he supports the social campaign for civil union and the right for adoption by homosexual couples.

Professional boxing record

Television viewership

Germany

Poland

References

External links

*
Dariusz Michalczewski profile
at Cyber Boxing Zone {{DEFAULTSORT:Michalczewski, Dariusz 1968 births Living people German male boxers International Boxing Federation champions Middleweight boxers Polish defectors Polish emigrants to Germany Naturalized citizens of Germany Polish male boxers Sportspeople from Gdańsk World Boxing Association champions World Boxing Organization champions World cruiserweight boxing champions World light-heavyweight boxing champions