- Bobby Czyz
Robert Edward ("Bobby") Czyz (born
February 10 ,1962 inOrange, New Jersey ) is an American boxer. ANew Jersey native of mostlyPolish and Italian descent, [http://www.hardcoreboxing.net/Smith5272006.htm] he is both a former world light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion.Czyz lived in
Wanaque, New Jersey and attendedLakeland Regional High School . [ [http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzNjYmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTYzMzc3NTMmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkz Boxing commentator arrested] , "Herald News ",February 25 ,2003 , accessedApril 11 ,2007 . "Boxing commentator and former two-time world champion Bobby Czyz, a Lakeland High School graduate and former Wanaque resident, has been charged with drunken driving."]Nickname d "Matinee Idol", Czyz was a member of theUnited States amateurboxing team that died in theLOT Polish Airlines plane crash inPoland in 1980. However, an auto accident one week before the fatal trip prevented him from being on that plane.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 champion
Marvin Hagler . He had to start from scratch, however, after suffering a 10-round loss at the hands of veteranMustafa Hamsho in November 1982.He 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 Kacar (Olympic Gold medallist of 1980). Czyz beat him in 5 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 (boxer) 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 on way to scoring a TKO victory and thus seizing the title after eight rounds of boxing.Czyz then lost a decision to
Dennis Andries 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 andDonny Lalonde , were made (both by unanimous decision) before Czyz vacated the title.Life After Boxing
After being stopped by David Izegwire in August 1994, Czyz retired and became a
television boxing analyst. With his new career, Czyz worked alongsideSteve Albert andFerdie Pacheco , covering fights in many locations worldwide. In December 1994, he covered the first world title fight ever held inEcuador as a member ofShowtime 's crew.In 1996, he made a brief comeback as a competitive boxer in the heavyweight division, but lost by
knockout in six rounds toEvander Holyfield and quickly retired again. The fight was somewhat controversial, as it appeared that Czyz's corner was coaching him to blame an injury to his back for his reason to quit on his stool. Czyz continued doingcolor commentary for Showtime, but was let go after pleading guilty to his fourth drunken-driving offense in six years after being caught speeding inReadington Township, New Jersey [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40A13FB3E540C728CDDAF0894DB404482&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fB%2fBoxing] . Czyz's case received a lot of attention as he was a multiple repeat DUI case, and was a driver behind the NJ Assembly revisiting its legislature [http://www.new-jersey.ws/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1703] . Czyz, who was a Raritan Township, NJ 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 [http://www.new-jersey.ws/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1703] .Outside of the Ring
Later he went on to marry Kimberly Ross on October 27, 1992. They then had a daughter, Mercedes Czyz.
He has since been inducted into the Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.
Czyz is a member of Mensa,cite web |url= http://www.mensa.org/index0.php?page=15 |title= Prominent Mensans | work=
Mensa International |accessdate= 2007-10-11] 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 fightEvander Holyfield .See also
*
List of boxing triple champions References
External links
*For the recent multi-part interview with Bobby Czyz by Michael Swann, please go to:
* http://www.15rounds.com/Columns/mswann/czyz-032707.php
* http://www.15rounds.com/Columns/mswann/czyz-032907.php
* http://www.15rounds.com/Columns/mswann/czyz-040307.php
* http://www.15rounds.com/Columns/mswann/czyz-061407.php
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