Dariusz Michalczewski

Dariusz Michalczewski
Born	Dariusz Michalczewski 5 May 1968 (1968-05-05) Gdańsk, Poland
Other names	Tiger
Nationality	Polish German
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Division	Light Heavyweight Cruiserweight
Reach	70.0 in (178 cm)
Fighting out of	Hamburg, Germany
Trainer	Fritz Sdunek
Years active	1988–2005
Professional boxing record
Total	50
Wins	48
By knockout	38
Losses	2
By knockout	1
Amateur career
Total	150
Wins	133
By knockout	83
Losses	15
By knockout	0
Draws	2
Other information
Website	http://www.dariusz-tiger.com/

Medal record
Competitor for Germany
Men’s Boxing
European Amateur Championships
Gold	1991 Gothenburg	Light Heavyweight

Dariusz Michalczewski (born on 5 May 1968 in Gdańsk, Poland) is a retired Polish-German professional boxer. Michalczewski is a former WBO, WBA, IBF & Lineal Light Heavyweight Champion and WBO Cruiserweight Champion.

Early 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 133–15–2 (83 KO's). Highlights of his amateur career include:

• 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

Defection to Germany

On 24 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."

Professional career

Michalczewski won the German International light heavyweight (175-pound) title on 13 February 1993, a title for foreign born fighters based in Germany. He then won the IBF Intercontinental Championship on 22 May 1993. Finally, on 10 September 1994, Michalczewski captured the WBO Light Heavyweight Championship with a 12-round decision over defending champion 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 cruiserweight title with a knockout of Nestor Giovannini. However, he soon gave up that title to continue campaigning as a light heavyweight.

On 13 June 1997, he defeated Virgil Hill over 12 rounds to add Hill's WBA and IBF titles to his own. However, Michalczewski soon lost both 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 was unable 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 titles. On 1998, he defeated Drake Thadzi. In 2000, he went on to defeat Graciano Rocchigiani.

Darius would attempt for 6 years to secure a bout with his American counter-part, Roy Jones Jr, without success. After his titles were stripped from Darius, Jones would win all the vacant belts and declare himself "world champion." Jones steadfastly refused all offers for a lucrative fight with Darius and even made an attempt to ban the mention of Michalczewski's name on his home network, HBO. Seth Abraham, president and CEO of HBO, refused Jones demand and in 2002 a fan poll showed that the fight fans most wanted to see was Darius Michalczewski vs Roy Jones Jr.
Jones continued to refuse offers for the fight, however.

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 18 October 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, the now 35-year-old Michalczewski was unable to pull it off. He lost a controversial split decision to the 27-year-old 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 2004, it was announced that Michalczewski would come out of retirement to fight France's Fabrice Tiozzo for the WBA light heavyweight title on 26 February 2005, in Hamburg. Michalczewski lost by sixth round rechnical knockout and declared the end of his career 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

• Polish Energy drink "Tiger" 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, known at the time by his stage name Marky Mark of the formation Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. In 1995, Marky Mark released a track called No Mercy about his friend Dariusz Michalczewski, including excerpts in Polish language 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 and Marky Mark, although this particular track is a solo effort by Marky Mark.

• In 2006, a documentary was made by 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.

Professional boxing record

48 Wins (38 knockouts, 7 decisions, 3 disqualifications), 2 losses (1 knockout, 1 decision), 0 Draws
Res.	Opponent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	Fabrice Tiozzo	TKO	6 (12) 2:05	2005-02-26	Color Line Arena, Altona, Hamburg, Germany	For WBA Light Heavyweight title.
Loss	Julio Cesar Gonzalez	SD	12	2003-10-18	Color Line Arena, Altona, Hamburg, Germany	Retained WBO & Lineal Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Derrick Harmon	KO	9 (12)	2003-03-29	Color Line Arena, Altona, Hamburg, Germany	Retained WBO & Lineal Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Richard Hall	TKO	10 (12)	2002-09-14	Volkswagenhalle, Braunschweig, Niedersachsen, Germany	Retained WBO & Lineal Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Joey DeGrandis	KO	2 (12)	2002-04-20	Stoczniowiec Olivia Arena, Gdansk, Poland	Retained WBO & Lineal Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Richard Hall	TKO	11 (12) 1:50	2001-12-15	Estrel Convention Center, Neukoelln, Berlin, Germany	Retained WBO & Lineal Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Alejandro Lakatos	KO	9 (12) 1:35	2001-05-05	Volkswagenhalle, Braunschweig, Niedersachsen, Germany	Retained WBO & Lineal Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Ka-Dy King	TKO	7 (12) 0:28	2000-12-16	Grugahalle, Essen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany	Retained WBO & Lineal Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Graciano Rocchigiani	TKO	10 (12) 3:00	2000-04-15	Preussag Arena, Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany	Retained WBO & Lineal Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Montell Griffin	TKO	4 (12) 2:59	1999-08-28	Stadthalle, Bremen, Germany	Retained WBO & Lineal Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Muslim Biarslanov	TKO	7 (12) 1:41	1999-04-03	Stadthalle, Bremen, Germany	Retained WBO & Lineal Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Drake Thadzi	TKO	9 (12)	1998-12-12	Ballsporthalle, Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany	Retained WBO & Lineal Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Mark Prince	KO	8 (12)	1998-09-19	Arena Oberhausen, Oberhausen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany	Retained WBO & Lineal Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Andrea Magi	TKO	4 (12)	1998-03-20	Ballsporthalle, Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany	Retained WBO & Lineal Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Darren Zenner	RTD	6 (12) 3:00	1997-12-13	Sporthalle, Alsterdorf, Hamburg, Germany	Retained WBO & Lineal Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Nicky Piper	TKO	7 (12) 3:00	1997-10-04	Stadionsporthalle, Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany	Retained WBO & Lineal Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Virgil Hill	UD	12	1997-06-13	Arena Oberhausen, Oberhausen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany	Retained WBO & won Lineal, WBA and IBF Light Heavyweight titles.
Win	Christophe Girard	TKO	8 (12) 2:35	1996-12-13	Stadionsporthalle, Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany	Retained WBO Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Graciano Rocchigiani	DQ	7 (12) 2:35	1996-08-10	Wilhelm-Koch-Stadion, St. Pauli, Hamburg, Germany	Retained WBO Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Christophe Girard	UD	12	1996-06-08	Deutz Sporthalle, Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany	Retained WBO Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Asluddin Umarov	TKO	5 (12) 2:30	1996-04-06	Stadionsporthalle, Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany	Retained WBO Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Philippe Michel	UD	12	1995-10-07	Festhalle, Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany	Retained WBO Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Everardo Armenta Jr	KO	5 (12) 2:59	1995-08-19	Eisstadion, Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany	Retained WBO Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Paul Carlo	KO	4 (12) 2:46	1995-05-20	Sporthalle, Alsterdorf, Hamburg, Germany	Retained WBO Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Roberto Dominguez Perez	KO	2 (12) 1:05	1995-03-11	Deutz Sporthalle, Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany	Retained WBO Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Nestor Giovannini	KO	10 (12) 1:25	1994-12-17	Sporthalle, Alsterdorf, Hamburg, Germany	Won WBO Cruiserweight title.
Win	Leeonzer Barber	UD	12 (12)	1994-09-10	Sporthalle, Alsterdorf, Hamburg, Germany	Won WBO Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Melvin Wynn	KO	2 (3:05)	1994-05-28	Tivoli Eissporthalle, Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Win	David Davis	KO	7 (10)	1994-04-23	Sporthalle Bildungszentrum, Halle, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany
Win	David Vedder	DQ	1	1994-02-19	Sporthalle, Wandsbek, Hamburg, Germany
Win	Sergio Daniel Merani	TD	9 (12)	1993-11-20	Sporthalle, Alsterdorf, Hamburg, Germany	Retained IBF Inter-Continental Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Mwehu Beya	PTS	12	1993-09-11	Tivoli Eissporthalle, Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany	Retained IBF Inter-Continental Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Juan Alberto Barrero	KO	5 (10)	1993-06-26	Sporthalle, Alsterdorf, Hamburg, Germany
Win	Noel Magee	TKO	8 (12)	1993-05-22	Tivoli Eissporthalle, Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.	Won vacant IBF Inter-Continental Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Pat Alley	KO	4	1993-04-03	Sporthalle, Wandsbek, Hamburg, Germany
Win	Ali Saidi	KO	10 (10)	1993-02-13	Sporthalle, Alsterdorf, Hamburg, Germany.	Won German International Light Heavyweight title.
Win	Willie McDonald	KO	3	1993-01-12	Saaltheater Geulen, Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Win	Mike Peak	PTS	8	1992-12-08	Legien Center, Mitte, Berlin, Germany
Win	Keith Williams	TKO	2	1992-11-17	Holstentorhalle, Luebeck, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Win	Cecil Simms	KO	2	1992-11-07	Deutz Sporthalle, Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Win	Steve McCarthy	DQ	3 (10)	1992-09-29	Legien Center, Mitte, Berlin, Germany
Win	Sylvester White	TKO	5	1992-08-28	Tivoli Eissporthalle, Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Win	Richard Bustin	KO	4 (8)	1992-06-27	Quinta do Lago Hotel, Quinta do Lago, Portugal
Win	Terrence Wright	TKO	2	1992-05-22	Dinslaken, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Win	Robert Johnson	TKO	2	1992-04-04	Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Win	Sean Mannion	TKO	3	1992-02-21	Legien Center, Mitte, Berlin, Germany
Win	Yves Monsieur	TKO	4 (8)	1992-01-28	Legien Center, Mitte, Berlin, Germany
Win	Zoltan Habda	TKO	2	1992-01-10	Saaltheater Geulen, Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Win	Peter Cenki	TKO	2	1991-10-15	Legien Center, Mitte, Berlin, Germany
Win	Frederic Porter	TKO	2	1991-09-16	Legien Center, Mitte, Berlin, Germany	Professional debut.

External links

• Professional boxing record for Dariusz Michalczewski from BoxRec
• Tiger – A Film By Pawel M Starost

Preceded by Leeonzer Barber	WBO Light Heavyweight Champion 10 September 1994 – 18 October 2003	Succeeded by Julio César González
Preceded by Nestor Hipolito Giovannini	WBO Cruiserweight Champion 17 December 1994 – January 1995 Vacated	Succeeded by Ralf Rocchigiani
Vacant Title last held by Michael Spinks	Undisputed Light Heavyweight Champion 13 June 1997 – 16 June 1997 Titles fractured	Succeeded by Roy Jones, Jr.
Preceded by Virgil Hill	WBA Light Heavyweight Champion 13 June 1997 – 1 July 1997 Vacated	Succeeded by Lou Del Valle
	IBF Light Heavyweight Champion 13 June 1997 – 16 June 1997 Vacated	Succeeded by William Guthrie