Bobby Czyz

Robert Edward Czyz (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; born February 10, 1962) is an American retired boxer and commentator. Czyz was a two-division world titleholder at light heavyweight and cruiserweight.

Czyz was born in Orange, New Jersey. He grew up in Wanaque, New Jersey and attended Lakeland Regional High School.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He is three quarters Italian and one quarter Polish.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His younger brother is avant-garde fiction writer Vincent Czyz.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Nicknamed "the Matinee Idol", Czyz was a member of the United States amateur boxing team whose other members died aboard LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 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, Marvis Frazier<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Tony Tucker) who survived the LOT Flight 7 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.<ref>Bobby Czyz Amateur Record at the BoxingRecords. Last updated : March 1, 2006.</ref>

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 one-sided, 10-round loss at the hands of veteran Mustafa Hamsho 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 (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 nine 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 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 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 as a member of Showtime's crew.

In 1996, he stepped up to the heavyweight division, but lost by knockout in five rounds to Evander Holyfield 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 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. 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 legislation.<ref name="new-jersey1">[1] Template:Webarchive</ref> 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.<ref name="new-jersey1"/>

Professional boxing record

Template:Abbr	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
52	Template:No2Loss	44–8	Corrie Sanders	TKO	2 (12), Template:Small	12 Jun 1998	Template:Small	Template:Small
51	Template:No2Loss	44–7	Evander Holyfield	RTD	5 (10), Template:Small	10 May 1996	Template:Small
50	Template:Yes2Win	44–6	Richard Jackson	TKO	6 (12), Template:Small	5 Dec 1995	Template:Small	Template:Small
49	Template:Yes2Win	43–6	Jeff Williams	UD	10	22 Sep 1995	Template:Small
48	Template:Yes2Win	42–6	Tim Tomashek	TKO	5 (10), Template:Small	24 Mar 1995	Template:Small
47	Template:No2Loss	41–6	David Izeqwire	RTD	4 (12), Template:Small	4 Aug 1994	Template:Small	Template:Small
46	Template:Yes2Win	41–5	George O'Mara	UD	10	19 Feb 1994	Template:Small
45	Template:Yes2Win	40–5	Donny Lalonde	UD	12	8 May 1992	Template:Small	Template:Small
44	Template:Yes2Win	39–5	Bash Ali	UD	12	9 Aug 1991	Template:Small	Template:Small
43	Template:Yes2Win	38–5	Robert Daniels	SD	12	8 Mar 1991	Template:Small	Template:Small
42	Template:Yes2Win	37–5	Horacio Rene Brandan	TKO	6 (10), Template:Small	21 Sep 1990	Template:Small
41	Template:Yes2Win	36–5	Andrew Maynard	KO	7 (10), Template:Small	24 Jun 1990	Template:Small
40	Template:Yes2Win	35–5	Uriah Grant	UD	10	23 Mar 1990	Template:Small
39	Template:No2Loss	34–5	Charles Williams	RTD	10 (12), Template:Small	25 Jun 1989	Template:Small	Template:Small
38	Template:No2Loss	34–4	Virgil Hill	UD	12	4 Mar 1989	Template:Small	Template:Small
37	Template:Yes2Win	34–3	Mike DeVito	TKO	7 (12), Template:Small	27 Dec 1988	Template:Small
36	Template:Yes2Win	33–3	Leslie Stewart	SD	10	25 Oct 1988	Template:Small
35	Template:No2Loss	32–3	Dennis Andries	MD	10	22 May 1988	Template:Small
34	Template:No2Loss	32–2	Charles Williams	RTD	9 (12), Template:Small	29 Oct 1987	Template:Small	Template:Small
33	Template:Yes2Win	32–1	Jim MacDonald	TKO	6 (12), Template:Small	3 May 1987	Template:Small	Template:Small
32	Template:Yes2Win	31–1	Willie Edwards	KO	2 (12), Template:Small	21 Feb 1987	Template:Small	Template:Small
31	Template:Yes2Win	30–1	David Sears	TKO	1 (12), Template:Small	26 Dec 1986	Template:Small	Template:Small
30	Template:Yes2Win	29–1	Slobodan Kačar	TKO	5 (12), Template:Small	6 Sep 1986	Template:Small	Template:Small
29	Template:Yes2Win	28–1	Murray Sutherland	UD	10	26 Jul 1985	Template:Small
28	Template:Yes2Win	27–1	Mike Fischer	UD	10	9 May 1985	Template:Small
27	Template:Yes2Win	26–1	Tim Broady	TKO	4 (10), Template:Small	18 Jan 1985	Template:Small
26	Template:Yes2Win	25–1	Marvin Mack	UD	10	23 Oct 1984	Template:Small
25	Template:Yes2Win	24–1	Mark Frazie	UD	10	30 May 1984	Template:Small
24	Template:Yes2Win	23–1	Jimmy Baker	TKO	1 (10), Template:Small	15 Feb 1984	Template:Small
23	Template:Yes2Win	22–1	Bill Medei	TKO	4 (10), Template:Small	25 Oct 1983	Template:Small
22	Template:Yes2Win	21–1	Bert Lee	RTD	2 (10), Template:Small	9 Sep 1983	Template:Small
21	Template:No2Loss	20–1	Mustafa Hamsho	UD	10	20 Nov 1982	Template:Small
20	Template:Yes2Win	20–0	Chris Linson	TKO	2 (10)	25 Sep 1982	Template:Small
19	Template:Yes2Win	19–0	Manuel Melon	TKO	2 (10), Template:Small	3 Jul 1982	Template:Small
18	Template:Yes2Win	18–0	Bobby Coolidge	TKO	4 (10), Template:Small	23 Mar 1982	Template:Small
17	Template:Yes2Win	17–0	Robbie Sims	UD	10	17 Jan 1982	Template:Small
16	Template:Yes2Win	16–0	Elisha Obed	DQ	6 (10)	12 Nov 1981	Template:Small	Template:Small
15	Template:Yes2Win	15–0	Dan Snyder	TKO	2 (10), Template:Small	8 Nov 1981	Template:Small
14	Template:Yes2Win	14–0	Rick Noggle	TKO	7 (10), Template:Small	26 Jun 1981	Template:Small
13	Template:Yes2Win	13–0	Reggie Jones	RTD	6 (10), Template:Small	18 Jun 1981	Template:Small	Template:Small
12	Template:Yes2Win	12–0	Oscar Albarado	TKO	3 (10), Template:Small	21 May 1981	Template:Small
11	Template:Yes2Win	11–0	Teddy Mann	UD	8	23 Feb 1981	Template:Small
10	Template:Yes2Win	10–0	Danny Long	TKO	5 (10), Template:Small	8 Feb 1981	Template:Small
9	Template:Yes2Win	9–0	Skipper Jones	TKO	7 (10)	18 Dec 1980	Template:Small
8	Template:Yes2Win	8–0	Tommy Merola	TKO	2 (10), Template:Small	16 Oct 1980	Template:Small
7	Template:Yes2Win	7–0	Johnny Davis	TKO	1 (8), Template:Small	18 Sep 1980	Template:Small
6	Template:Yes2Win	6–0	Leo Ferro	UD	8	21 Aug 1980	Template:Small
5	Template:Yes2Win	5–0	Bruce Strauss	KO	4 (8)	17 Jul 1980	Template:Small
4	Template:Yes2Win	4–0	Ronald Cousins	TKO	1	19 Jun 1980	Template:Small
3	Template:Yes2Win	3–0	Dalton Swift	KO	2	22 May 1980	Template:Small
2	Template:Yes2Win	2–0	Jamal Arbubakar	PTS	4	8 May 1980	Template:Small
1	Template:Yes2Win	1–0	Hank Whitmore	KO	1 (4)	24 Apr 1980	Template:Small	Template:Small

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,<ref name="njboxinghof">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="mensa">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.

See also

• List of world light-heavyweight boxing champions
• List of world cruiserweight boxing champions

External links

• Template:Boxrec
• Michael Swann's 2007 multi-part interview with Bobby Czyz
  • Part One
  • Part Two
  • Part Three
  • Follow-up