Dariusz Michalczewski

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Dariusz Michalczewski
Dariusz Michalczewski, December 2007
Data
Birth Name	Dariusz Michalczewski
Fight name	tiger
Weight class	Light heavyweight
nationality	polish german
birthday	5th May 1968
place of birth	Danzig
style	Left delivery
size	1.85 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	50
Victories	48
Knockout victories	38
Defeats	2

Dariusz Michalczewski (born May 5, 1968 in Danzig ) is a former Polish and German boxer who was world light heavyweight champion from 1994 to 2003 and briefly world cruiserweight champion. Because of his aggressive boxing style, he became known in Germany under the nickname "Tiger". Michalczewski remained undefeated in his professional career over a period of twelve years.

Beginnings and amateur career

Dariusz Michalczewski started boxing at the age of twelve. It was initially funded by the Polish state sports program. His first international success was a third place in 1986 at the European Junior Championships in Copenhagen . He defeated the French Fabrice Tiozzo , his last opponent among the professionals, in the quarter-finals .

With a club in the first division Michalczewski should earn 1.5 million zloty a year. On April 24, 1988, he sat down as a member of the Polish national team at the Intercup tournament in Karlsruhe ; his family was later able to join him in the Federal Republic of Germany. He gives the reason for his escape that his salary was taken away from him. He lived in Hanau for a year , where he first worked for a greengrocer. In 1989 he was brought to Bayer 04 Leverkusen as a boxer by Valentin Silaghi , where he was trained by Fritz Sdunek . Michalczewski, who had German grandparents, took German citizenship in 1989 and boxed as a German from the same year. He denied 150 amateur fights, of which he won in 139 matches, of which by 89 o. K. counterpart Sven Ottke he lost twice, which he attributed carries in his biography that he had to stop after his escape temporarily exercising and not back was in good shape.

In 1990 he defeated Torsten May in the final of the Chemistry Cup . The highlight of his amateur career was the European light heavyweight title in 1991 in Gothenburg . Bayer Leverkusen paid him a premium of 2,000.00 D-Marks for this.

Professional career

He became a professional boxer and was signed by the Universum Boxing Promotion , where he was trained first by Eckhard Dagge , then by Chuck Talhami. In 1993 he won the IBF intercontinental light heavyweight title. He was given the battle name "Tiger", among other things due to his aggressive fighting style and his agility. In 1994 he said: “I'm going to play the game, after all you can't pronounce Michalczewski so easily.” In keeping with his battle name, Michalczewski's run-in music was the title “ Eye of the Tiger ” by the group Survivor .

Michalczewski made his professional debut on September 16, 1991 against the American Frederic Porter. He had it on the ground twice in the first round and three times in the second round, which is why Michalczewski won the fight by technical knockout (TKO) in round two.

He played another 22 fights, all of which he won, all by knockout. On May 28, 1994 he won the eliminator for the title of WBO against Melvis Wynn by knockout in the second round.

WBO World Championship win

On September 10, 1994 Michalczewski won the WBO world title in the light heavyweight division in Hamburg by unanimously winning points against defending champion Leeonzer Barber . In front of 7,000 spectators in the Alsterdorf sports hall , Michalczewski let his opponent develop less and less from the fifth round thanks to his leading hand and also benefited from his superior condition. In contrast, the American who scored the harder hits seemed increasingly worn down as the fight continued and was also warned twice for a low blow. This made him the sixth German boxer to become world champion.

In December of the same year Dariusz Michalczewski was able to add the WBO cruiserweight title to his WBO light heavyweight title. He won by knockout in the tenth round against the Argentine Nestor Giovannini , who had previously taken the belt from the German Markus Bott . With his rather mixed fight record, the South American was considered the "alibi world champion" and never achieved the recognition of other boxing greats in this weight class such as Orlin Norris or Alfred Cole . Just a few days later, Michalczewski, who was voted "Boxer of the Year 1994" by readers of BoxSport magazine , gave up his cruiserweight title again in order to concentrate on his traditional weight class.

Unlike Henry Maske, whose boxing appearances on television were regularly followed by millions of viewers, Michalczewski fought in front of a limited audience on pay TV at Premiere . His management was therefore constantly striving to increase the profile of the WBO world champion, who ranked far behind the IBF world champion mask and Graciano Rocchigiani in a poll by an opinion research institute. This included, among other things, the recurring declarations of war on Mask since he rose to become the first German professional light heavyweight world champion in the spring of 1993, which, however, was not paid attention to by the other side.

Michalczewski played his first title defense on March 11, 1995 in the Deutz sports hall in Cologne against the unknown Spaniard Roberto Dominguez , who was number ten in the WBO rankings. It was only thanks to the inexperience of the challenger, who to date almost without exception had boxed opponents with a negative fight record, that Michalczewski was able to keep his title. After he had to survive several impact hits and a knockdown in the first few minutes, the world champion managed the decisive blow to the knockout victory in the second round.

With the Italian-American Paul Carlo , the next World Cup challenger was another opponent who was only represented in eighth place in the WBO rankings. On May 20, 1995 there was a clash, with Michalczewski also this time revealed boxing weaknesses. As in his first title defense, he made the decision early with his left hook when southpaw Carlo was counted in the fourth round after the first rainfall.

On August 19th, Michalczewski's first compulsory challenge was on the agenda. First in the WBO rankings and thus opponent was the Mexican Everado Armenta , who, with the exception of his lost fights against Frank Tate and Lupe Aquino, had only fought against unknown boxers. Michalczewski had no problems against the southpaw and won after a convincing performance by knockout in round five.

Seven weeks later, the Hamburg-by-choice got into the ring for his fourth title defense against Phillipe Michel , who had never lost prematurely in his career. Although the reigning French champions were badly hit twice, they also proved their ability to take against Michalczewski. In the end, he had to go the full distance of twelve rounds again for the first time since winning the World Cup eleven months earlier against Barber. The fact that the deserved unanimous win on points was never in danger was due to the lack of clout of his opponent, who repeatedly knew how to exploit the world champion's lack of coverage.

After another successful title defense against the overwhelmed Kazakhs Asluddin Umarov , the next world championship fight should be broadcast on free TV . Since the big showdown with Graciano Rocchigiani was planned for August of the same year , who catapulted himself back into the limelight after a long period of abstinence with two spectacular fights against Henry Maske, a supposedly calculable risk was taken with the commitment of Christophe Girard . With his defensive fighting style, the Frenchman was reminiscent of Henry Maske, who has meanwhile been rated as the best light heavyweight boxer by the American magazine The Ring . But the first appearance in front of an audience of millions in Germany and Poland turned into a fiasco, at the end of which an extremely controversial point victory was announced in favor of the defending champion. Girard had repeatedly succeeded in countering the attacking Michalczewski with successful combinations, which ultimately lacked the power to make an early decision. The world champion himself only managed to set the tone in the last few laps, when his counterpart had to pay tribute to the high weight loss in the course of preparing for the fight and lost his stamina.

Scandalous fight against Graciano Rocchigiani

Two months after the dubious victory over Girard, Dariusz Michalczewski had to defend his title against former European champion Graciano Rocchigiani. Rocchigiani, IBF world champion in super middleweight for a short time in the late 1980s, had brought the huge favorite to the brink of defeat in the world championship fight against Henry Maske 14 months earlier and was considered one of the best light heavyweights worldwide. Michalczewski could not convince against the southpaw either, was embarrassed several times by hard uppercut and was already well behind on points in the middle of the fight. In the seventh round, the world champion was hit again by Rocchigiani after the referee's command to separate. Thereupon the encounter was broken off due to Michalczewski's incapacity to fight, which led to tumultuous scenes in and around the ring, since the defending champion was accused of having only faked the attack of weakness. The verdict was initially on a "technical draw", which Michalczewski was allowed to keep his world title. Later, at the Green Table, the tie was converted into a disqualification win for Michalczewski.

After this fight, Chuck Talhami was replaced as head coach as a consequence. He was replaced by Fritz Sdunek , who until then had primarily taken care of the boxer's fitness. Four months later, Michalczewski was supposed to defend his title against former mask challenger Duran Williams , who was sentenced to prison for domestic violence . After two other planned opponents, Eddy Smulders and then Mark Prince, canceled due to injury or illness, Christophe Girard was given the opportunity to retaliate for his defeat in spring this year at short notice. In the end, the Frenchman was lost to Michalczewski with only a few days of preparation time and without special training and gave up the fight in the eighth round.

Victory over WBA / IBF world champion Hill

In the spring of 1997, Dariusz Michalczewski and WBA / IBF world champion Virgil Hill , who had defeated Henry Maske in November of the previous year, should meet . Since the WBO was denied recognition as a world association by the competitor WBA, the universe boxer was considered an untitled challenger in this fight, which would have continued to lead him as WBO world champion in the event of a defeat. However, its management declared that Michalczewski would voluntarily renounce his title in the event of a defeat.

In preparation for the fight against Hill, the Hamburg graduate psychologist Eckard Winderl was hired to mentally strengthen and stabilize Michalczewski. On June 13, the match took place in the Oberhausen Arena in Oberhausen , which was not completely sold out with 10,000 spectators , after Hill's ankle injury had made it necessary to postpone the date twice. During the entire fight Michalczewski repeatedly succeeded in forcing the US-American, who was favored by the bookmakers, into the half-distance and to hit him decisively there, while he again did not act as lightly as usual and also lacked the necessary punch. At the end of the twelve rounds, all three judges voted for the challenger from Hamburg, who thus crowned himself three times the title holder. Michalczewski was the first light heavyweight boxer to win the world title from three associations.

Further reign as WBO world champion

Immediately after his victory, Michalczewski was stripped of the WBA title because he refused to put down his ancestral WBO belt. The IBF also had no interest in the German-Poland as champion and insisted on a compulsory defense of their title within 60 days of the Hill fight. Michalczewski, who was deprived of every opportunity to prepare for the fight, consequently renounced the IBF belt.

On October 4, 1997 Michalczewski defended his remaining world title against the WBO ranked first Nicky Piper . Against the boxer-limited Valais, the world champion in the stadium sports hall in Hanover had an average performance to end the fight early and keep his belt.

A similar picture emerged at Michalczewski's next World Championship fights. In December 1997, the opponent in the Hamburg Alsterdorf sports hall was Darren Zenner from the United States, who was taken out of the fight during the break for the seventh round after he had barely resisted the entire encounter.

A good three months later, Michalczewski defeated an exhausted Andrea Magi in four rounds in the ball sports hall in Frankfurt am Main , who, according to his own statement, had lost 17 kilograms in the training phase. Especially against the Italian, who had resigned two years earlier and only received the Croatian boxing license for this world championship fight, the defending champion showed well-known weaknesses in cover and almost without exception acted with single blows.

On September 19, 1998 Michalczewski returned to Oberhausen, where he had achieved his greatest success to date with the victory over Virgil Hill. Against the British challenger Mark Prince, the world champion seamlessly continued the performance of that time and won after a convincing performance by technical knockout in round eight.

After an announced title defense against Eddy Smulders did not materialize, Michalczewski played his next world championship fight on December 12th against Drake Thadzi from the United States. The opponent from Malawi - who had been defeated by Hill in the fight for the WBA crown three years earlier - proved to be an experienced and powerful opponent who repeatedly knew how to exploit the weaknesses of the world champions. Michalczewski, who had to survive several impact hits especially in the first half of the fight and was obviously battered in the second round, decided the match in the ninth round, which had been balanced to date, when he hit the opponent with his first clean combination and the referee without a previous one Counting was taken out of the fight.

While Thadzi had been in tenth place in the independent world rankings (IWBR) before his defeat, Michalczewski's next opponent was ranked 54th. The Russian Muslim Bjarslanow , who was ranked number one at the WBO , had no chance during the fight on March 3, 1999, as expected, and lost by technical knockout in the seventh round. Although the overwhelmed mandatory challenger was no longer up to Michalczewski's powerful attack boxing at the latest from round three, the defending champion was again hit with clear uppercut, which earned him the criticism of his coach Fritz Sdunek. For Dariusz Michalczewski, this victory meant the 15th successful title defense in light heavyweight, with which he had broken the record of the American Bob Foster in this weight class .

On August 28, 1999 Michalczewski faced Montell Griffin, the supposedly strongest of his previous challengers. The American, placed third in the independent world rankings, directly behind the Hamburg-based man, used his greater agility and better reflexes at the beginning of the fight and had the world champion in round three shortly before the knockout. He proved his increased serenity and took the initiative in the fourth round on points well behind. After he had an effect on his 14 centimeter smaller opponent with a counter blow, he followed up and covered him with further blows. Since according to the WBO rules it is not allowed to count while standing, the experienced referee Joe Cortez was forced to take the externally ailing challenger out of the fight a second before the break gong. Michalczewski climbed to number one in the independent world rankings in the light heavyweight division for the first time after this success.

Second duel against Rocchigiani

In April 2000, the duel with Rocchigiani, who had not boxed for over two years due to injuries, was held in Hanover for many years. In the Preussag-Arena , which was sold out with 12,600 spectators , the 36-year-old challenger could tell from the first gong that the fight was paused. In addition to deficits in the sense of distance, Rocchigiani no longer seemed to have the compact double coverage of earlier days and also revealed physical weaknesses from the fifth lap. Michalczewski, on the other hand, was much more mature than when the two opponents first met in 1996. With improved coverage and his characteristic strong physique, he demonstrated stable nerves in the face of the majority of the audience rejecting him and consequently pursued his route. Logically this time the fight ended by giving up Rocchigiani after the ninth round. At this point, Michalczewski had clearly led on points and temporarily sent his arch-rival to the ground for the first time in his career.

Counter world champion to Roy Jones

After this victory at the latest, Dariusz Michalczewski was seen by many experts as the only serious competitor in the world to Roy Jones junior in the light heavyweight division, who now owned all the world championship belts of the other major world associations and was once again in first place in the independent world rankings. Accordingly, the calls for a duel between the two increased over time. Although, according to Michalczewski, the American was the number one opponent, a fight between the two world champions remained wishful thinking. It is only speculation that the project ultimately failed.

Eight months after his fight against Rocchigiani, Michalczewski went into the ring against the American Ka-Dy King , who had never played a 12-round fight and was not in the top ten at any of the four major world associations. During his 18th title defense in the not completely sold-out Essen Grugahalle , the world champion fell back into old behavior in the first few laps and again missed the recently improved cover work. A significant increase in performance in the seventh round was enough for Michalczewski to win the fight convincingly by removing the opponent. Obviously, the chaotic preparation for this fight had left its mark on the world champion, which had been overshadowed by rumors of visits to brothels and cocaine consumption of the hamburger of choice.

Michalczewski's next challenger Alejandro Lakatos was also only granted underdog chances by experts. The Romanian, placed 40th on the independent computer world rankings in the light heavyweight division, was considered an inexperienced opponent with 16 fights, but had repeatedly demonstrated his great clout. On May 5, 2001, the fight took place in the Braunschweig Volkswagen Hall , at the end of which the old and new world champion celebrated his 44th victory with a knockout in the eighth round. Previously, on his 33rd birthday, the defending champion had several problems with his opponent, who had given him a courageous performance in a long-distance match.

On December 15, Michalczewski played his 20th title defense in Berlin against the highly rated Jamaican Richard Hall , who a year and a half earlier had only been knocked out in the eleventh round against WBC / WBA / IBF world champion Roy Jones. After a high-class fight, Michalczewski won, leading by just a few points, thanks to the veto of the ring doctor, who also refused to let the challenger fight in the penultimate round because of an eye injury suffered in the fight. Not least in view of the fact that southpaw Hall increased significantly towards the end of the fight, this decision caused the displeasure of many viewers. Promoter and manager Klaus-Peter Kohl promised the Jamaican the opportunity to take revenge immediately after the fight.

After another successful title defense in the spring of 2002 against the boxing limited American Joey DeGrandis - with his native city of Danzig as the venue, Michalczewski fought outside of Germany for the first time - the new edition against Richard Hall was due just five months later. A few days before the rematch, Dariusz Michalczewski announced in a press release that he would only compete under the Polish flag in future. The match itself took place on September 14th in the Braunschweig Volkswagen Hall, where both opponents fought again on an equal footing. Michalczewski only managed to take the initiative in the fifth round, taken by surprise by his counterpart's initial offensive. Due to an almost swollen left eye always in danger of being taken out of the fight, he finally decided the already lost battle in round ten in his favor. Shortly before that, the world champion had achieved an effect with a left hook at Hall and followed up with a series of punches, but most of them missed their target. The Jamaican tried to survive the attacks with clamps and was taken out of the fight by the referee as unable to defend himself. As in the first meeting, the question of whether the termination was justified caused controversy here too.

With the American Derrick Harmon , Michalczewski was then challenged by another former opponent of Roy Jones. If he was clearly inferior to the three-time title holder two years earlier, southpaw Harmon had to bow to the offensive fighting style of the WBO world champion on March 29, 2003 and suffered his first knockout defeat in round nine. Although he was also able to take effective hits himself, the American seemed to be weakened, not least by "boiling off" three kilograms of body weight in the last 24 hours before the fight. Michalczewski, who said he had gone into the fight with a fever, suffered serious injuries again, as he did with his victories over Hall, which led to more voices in his environment suggesting that the world champion would soon end his career due to his exhausting fighting style.

Loss of title against Julio Cesar Gonzalez

With 48 victorious fights in a row, Dariusz Michalczewski was now only one victory away from Rocky Marciano's record, which had remained unbeaten for 49 fights. As an opponent for the envisaged record triumph, a former opponent of Roy Jones was signed for the third time in a row with Julio Cesar González . The Mexican, listed by all four major world associations as one of the three strongest challengers in the light heavyweight division, had suffered his only defeat to date against the number one in the independent computer world rankings two years earlier. Michalczewski's trainer Sdunek said before the fight that his protégé was “physically in better shape than ever before” and had “prepared more focused than for any other fight before”. His manager Kohl had said: "This will be the hardest task of his career so far".

In another cross-comparison with the second great light heavyweight world champion, Michalczewski was left behind this time when he was controversially defeated by González on October 18, 2003 in the Hamburg Color Line Arena, which was sold out with 15,000 spectators . After completing twelve rounds, the Mexican's higher hit rate made the difference, and he was more precise and nimble than his opponent during the entire fight. Michalczewski found no boxing remedy against it and was never able to put his opponent in serious trouble despite his physical superiority and greater punching power. In the end, two of the three judges voted for the challenger. After his first defeat, the dethroned world champion initially did not want to comment on a continuation or an end to his career. In view of this judgment, the Universum boxing stable “gained in credibility. Because the subliminal accusation that Hamburg's boxing stable could influence everything at its home games has now been refuted, ”commented the Hamburger Abendblatt .

Failed comeback attempt

About a year after his first defeat, Dariusz Michalczewski began preparing for a fight against the reigning WBA world champion Fabrice Tiozzo from France, which was to take place again on February 26, 2005 in the Color Line Arena. Michalczewski's opponent had already held the WBC light heavy title and the WBA cruiserweight title in the course of his 17-year career and so far only had to admit defeat to Virgil Hill twice in 48 fights. But the hoped-for return to the world championship throne failed when Michalczewski had little to oppose the robust fighting style of Tiozzo and had to be taken out of the fight in the sixth round. For his appearance after a 497-day break from fighting, the ex-world champion had once again received a battle exchange of three million euros. On June 1 of the same year, Dariusz Michalczewski finally declared his career over.

Comeback thoughts

Dariusz Michalczewski at the Biberach Film Festival 2006

On November 15, 2007 it was announced that Dariusz Michalczewski wanted to return to the ring for a third duel against his arch rival Graciano Rocchigiani . The fight was to take place on May 24, 2008 in the TUI Arena in Hanover, the place where they last met. For Michalczewski, a break from fighting of three years and three months would have ended, and his opponent would not have entered the ring again as a boxer until after five years. In the end, this project was canceled after a disagreement between the organizer and Graciano Rocchigiani. Another contemplated duel against former world champion Sven Ottke also failed in advance.

Sports director

In August 2019, Ismail Özen-Otto announced that Michalczewski had been hired as the sports director of the revived Universum boxing stable.

Records

With 23 fights, Dariusz Michalczewski holds the record for most title defenses in a row in the light heavyweight division. His nine-year title reign is also considered one of the longest in boxing.

List of professional fights

48 wins (including 38 wins by knockout, 10 wins on points), 2 defeats, 0 draws

Result		opponent	Type	Round	date	place
victory		Frederic Porter	TKO	2	1991-09-16	Hamburg , Germany
victory		Peter Genki	TKO	2	1991-10-15	Hamburg , Germany
victory		Zoltan Habda	TKO	2	1992-01-10	Aachen , Germany
victory		Yves Monsieur	TKO	4th	1992-01-28	Hamburg , Germany
victory		Sean Mannion	TKO	3	1992-02-21	Hamburg , Germany
victory		Robert Johnsson	TKO	2	1992-04-04	Dusseldorf , Germany
victory		Terrence Wright	TKO	2	1992-05-22	Dinslaken , Germany
victory		Richard Bustin	KO	4th	1992-06-27	Almancil , Portugal
victory		Sylvester White	TKO	5	1992-08-28	Aachen , Germany
victory		Steve McCarthy	disqualification	3	1992-09-29	Hamburg , Germany
victory		Cecil Simms	KO	2	1992-11-07	Cologne , Germany
victory		Keith Williams	TKO	2	1992-11-17	Lübeck , Germany
victory		Mike Peak	Point win	8th	1992-12-08	Hamburg , Germany
victory		Willie McDonald	KO	3	1993-01-12	Aachen , Germany
victory		Ali Saidi	KO	10	1993-02-13	Hamburg , Germany
victory		Pat Alley	KO	4th	1993-04-03	Hamburg-Wandsbek , Germany
victory		Noel Magee	TKO	8th	1993-05-22	Aachen , Germany
victory		Juan Alberto Barrero	KO	5	1993-06-26	Hamburg , Germany
victory		Mwehu Beya	Points win (unanimous)	12	1993-09-11	Aachen , Germany
victory		Sergio Daniel Merrani	Technical decision	9	1993-11-20	Hamburg , Germany
victory		David Vedder	disqualification	1	1994-02-19	Hamburg-Wandsbek , Germany
victory		David Davis	KO	7th	1994-04-23	Halle (Saale) , Germany
victory		Melvin Wynn	KO	2	1994-05-28	Aachen , Germany
victory		Leeonzer Barber	Points win (unanimous)	12	1994-09-10	Hamburg , Germany
victory		Nestor Giovannini	KO	10	1994-12-17	Hamburg , Germany
victory		Roberto Dominguez Perez	KO	2	1995-03-11	Cologne , Germany
victory		Paul Carlo	KO	4th	1995-05-20	Hamburg , Germany
victory		Everado Armenta	KO	5	1995-08-19	Dusseldorf , Germany
victory		Philippe Michel	Points win (unanimous)	12	1995-10-07	Frankfurt am Main , Germany
victory		Asluddin Umarov	TKO	5	1996-04-06	Hanover , Germany
victory		Christophe Girard	Points win (unanimous)	12	1996-06-08	Cologne , Germany
victory		Graciano Rocchigiani	disqualification	7th	1996-08-10	Hamburg , Germany
victory		Christophe Girard	TKO	8th	1996-12-13	Hanover , Germany
victory		Virgil Hill	Points win (unanimous)	12	1997-06-13	Oberhausen , Germany
victory		Nicky Piper	TKO	7th	1997-10-04	Hanover , Germany
victory		Darren Zenner	task	6th	1997-12-13	Hamburg , Germany
victory		Andrea Magi	TKO	4th	1998-03-20	Frankfurt am Main , Germany
victory		Mark Prince	KO	8th	1998-09-19	Oberhausen , Germany
victory		Drake Thadzi	TKO	9	1998-12-12	Frankfurt am Main , Germany
victory		Muslim Bjarslanov	TKO	9	1999-04-03	Bremen , Germany
victory		Montell Griffin	TKO	4th	1999-08-28	Bremen , Germany
victory		Graciano Rocchigiani	TKO	10	2000-04-15	Hanover , Germany
victory		Ka-Dy King	TKO	7th	2000-12-12	Essen , Germany
victory		Alejandro Lakatos	KO	9	2001-05-05	Braunschweig , Germany
victory		Richard Hall	TKO	11	2001-12-15	Berlin-Neukölln , Germany
victory		Joey DeGrandis	KO	2	2002-04-20	Gdansk , Poland
victory		Richard Hall	TKO	10	2002-09-14	Braunschweig , Germany
victory		Derrick Harmon	KO	9	2003-03-29	Hamburg , Germany
defeat		Julio Cesar Gonzalez	Point defeat (unanimous)	12	2003-10-18	Hamburg , Germany
defeat		Fabrice Tiozzo	KO	6th	2005-02-26	Hamburg , Germany

Private

Michalczewski is of Catholic faith. He learned the trade of carpenter .

He was married to his first wife Dorota Chwaszczyńska (* 1968) from 1987 to 1990 and again from 1992 to 2004 and with her they have two sons Michał (* 1987) and Nicolas (* 1991). Dorota now lives with Nicolas in Florida, while Michał moved to Poland after studying in the USA and lives in Krakow.

From October 14, 2006 Michalczewski was married to his long-time Polish girlfriend Patrycja Ossowska (* 1972), with whom he lived in Hamburg. They separated in March 2007.

In April 2009 he married his third wife Barbara Imos (* 1980) and with her they have a son Dariusz (* 2009) and a daughter Nel (* 2015).

In 1993 Michalczewski was caught driving a vehicle with 1.8 per thousand alcohol in his blood, and his driver's license was withdrawn. In 1999 he was driving without a license and was stopped by the police.

Michalczewski now lives in Gdynia near Danzig . He owns two fitness studios and has a share in the sales of the energy drink Tiger .

In 2006 the documentary Tiger by director PM Starost was released, which is about Michalczewski's boxing career. Michalczewski was given the song No Mercy (Fist of the Tiger) by Mark Wahlberg in 1995 , both of which play in the music video.

Michalczewski campaigns against homophobia in Poland. He said in an interview: “Some Poles are so narrow-minded. They don't look at their own shit, they prefer to look into each other's bedrooms. I don't care if someone is black, white, Turkish, Pole, German, gay, lesbian or straight. "

In December 2016, he was arrested in Poland for domestic violence. Cocaine is also said to have been found in his apartment.

References

Web links

Commons : Dariusz Michalczewski  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Dariusz Michalczewski in the BoxRec database

predecessor	Office	successor
Virgil Hill	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) June 13, 1997 - July 1, 1997	Lou Del Valle
Virgil Hill	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( IBF ) June 13, 1997 - June 16, 1997	William Guthrie
Leeonzer Barber	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) September 10, 1994 - October 18, 2003	Julio Gonzáles
Nestor Giovannini	Cruiserweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) December 17, 1994 - January 1995	Ralf Rocchigiani

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{a b} Franko Koitzsch: In the shadow of the mask. In: Rhein-Zeitung. Retrieved September 23, 2019 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} https://www.abendblatt.de/archive/1994/pdf/19940909.pdf/ASV_HAB_19940909_HA_023.pdf
3. ↑ Box Sport, edition of September 21, 1994, p. 16 ff.
4. ↑ https://www.abendblatt.de/archive/1994/pdf/19940912.pdf/ASV_HAB_19940912_HA_020.pdf
5. ↑ Box Sport, edition of December 21, 1994, pp. 20 ff.
6. ↑ Box Sport, edition of January 11, 1995, p. 16 ff.
7. ↑ Profiboxen 1995 - Article about D. Michalczewski by Tobias Drews. kick24.info, accessed March 21, 2013 . 
8. ↑ Box Sport, edition of April 23, 1996, p. 19: In the spring of 1996, Mask said in an interview that a year and a half earlier, at his express request, a written bid to fight had been made to Michalczewski, which Michalczewski refused. In fact, Michalczewski's manager Klaus-Peter Kohl had rejected a possible duel against Mask in May 1995 with the words: "Germany lives really well with two world champions" (see Box Sport, edition of May 30, 1995, p. 19 Mask then drew a line under this topic.
9. ↑ Box Sport, March 22, 1995 edition, p. 17
10. ↑ Five difficult minutes for the "Tiger". Berliner Zeitung, March 13, 1995, accessed on March 21, 2013 . 
11. ↑ Box Sport, May 16, 1995 edition, p. 21
12. ↑ Box Sport, May 30, 1995, p. 19
13. ↑ A hook should go down in history. Die Welt, May 22, 1995, accessed March 21, 2013 . 
14. ↑ Box Sport, issue of August 22, 1995, p. 16
15. ↑ Box Sport, October 17, 1995, p. 19
16. ↑ Michalczewski wins, but everyone is talking about mask. Die Welt, October 9, 1995, accessed March 21, 2013 . 
17. ↑ Box Sport, April 10, 1996 edition, p. 19
18. ↑ Box Sport, April 23, 1996 edition, p. 19
19. ↑ Box Sport, June 11, 1996 edition, p. 16
20. ↑ The "tiger" attacks like a docile house cat. Die Welt, June 10, 1996, accessed March 21, 2013 . 
21. ↑ Rocky is the stupid again. Berliner Zeitung, August 12, 1996, accessed on March 21, 2013 . 
22. ↑ Box Sport, issue of November 26, 1996, p. 20
23. ↑ Michalczewski and the fourth man. Der Tagesspiegel, December 11, 1996, accessed April 21, 2013 . 
24. ↑ Box Sport, December 17, 1996 edition, p. 24
25. ↑ The manager also boxes. Berliner Zeitung, December 16, 1996, accessed on March 21, 2013 . 
26. ↑ Box Sport, June 10, 1997 edition, p. 18
27. ↑ Die Welt from October 1, 1997, When the champ sees blue in the boxing ring, p. 35; Hamburger Abendblatt from June 10th, 1997, How Dariusz Michalczewski trained for the fight of the year; Archive Rhein-Zeitung from June 13th, 1997, "Hill is really nervous".
28. ↑ Box Sport, edition of June 24, 1997, p. 16 ff.
29. ↑ Stefan Reckziegel: The tiger sets the big hit. In: Hamburger Abendblatt. June 14, 1997. Retrieved September 23, 2019 . 
30. ↑ Box Sport, issue of August 19, 1997, p. 3
31. ↑ Box Sport, issue of October 14, 1997, p. 18 ff.
32. ↑ Box Sport, issue of December 23, 1997, p. 24
33. ↑ Box Sport, March 31, 1998 edition, p. 18
34. ↑ Box Sport, September 29, 1998 edition, p. 16
35. ↑ Box Sport, edition of March 30, 1999, p. 18
36. ↑ Box Sport, edition of April 13, 1999, p. 18
37. ↑ Box Sport, edition of August 31, 1999, p. 18: In boxing sport, the time when the fight was stopped is incorrectly stated 20 seconds before the end of the round.
38. ↑ Box Sport, April 26, 2000 edition, p. 3
39. ↑ Box Sport, edition of November 7, 2000, p. 20: According to Michalczewski's manager Klaus-Peter Kohl, Roy Jones had turned down several offers to box against Michalczewski. Among them was an offer according to which the winner of this duel could have withheld the entire stock exchange. In fact, a few weeks earlier, Jones had announced that he would boil off to middleweight division in order to challenge the superstars Félix Trinidad and Fernando Vargas (see Box Sport, September 12, 2000, p. 23). At this point, Jones was also in Great Britain of criticism after canceling a targeted duel against WBO super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe .
40. ↑ Box Sport, issue of November 7, 2000, p. 20
41. ↑ Box Sport, December 19, 2000 issue, p. 26
42. ↑ Box Sport, December 5, 2000 issue, p. 17
43. ↑ Box Sport, April 24, 2001 edition, p. 19
44. ↑ Box Sport, May 8, 2001 edition, p. 19
45. ↑ Box Sport, December 4, 2001, p. 19
46. ↑ Cheated among themselves. Berliner Zeitung, December 17, 2001, accessed on March 21, 2013 . 
47. ↑ Suffering of a Champion. Berliner Zeitung, December 17, 2001, accessed on March 21, 2013 . 
48. ↑ Box Sport, December 18, 2001, p. 25
49. ↑ Boxing, edition from October 2002, p. 6 ff.
50. ↑ Michalczewski survived anxious minutes, defeated Hall prematurely. BoxingPress, accessed April 20, 2013 . 
51. ↑ Boxing, May 2003 edition, p. 12 ff.
52. ↑ Michalczewski on record course after knockout victory. Schwäbische Zeitung Online, April 6, 2003, accessed May 10, 2013 . 
53. ↑ Friday: Boxing is Smarter Says: Contrary to the opinion often expressed in the media, Rocky Marciano's record is not a record in terms of a boxer's winning streak. There have already been several boxers who were unbeaten in more than 49 fights. The Mexican boxing legend Julio César Chávez , who did not leave the ring as a winner for the first time in his 89th fight, serves as an example .
54. ↑ Boxing, October 2003 edition, p. 16 ff.
55. ↑ Berliner Zeitung: The last temptation
56. ↑ https://www.abendblatt.de/archive/2003/pdf/20031017.pdf/HAHA20031017lf024.pdf
57. ^ Lutz Wagner: Well roared, tiger. In: Hamburger Abendblatt. October 18, 2003, accessed September 23, 2019 . 
58. ↑ ^{a b} https://www.abendblatt.de/archive/2003/pdf/20031020.pdf/HAHA20031020lf023.pdf
59. ↑ Julio Gonzalez new WBO light heavyweight champion. BoxingPress, accessed May 8, 2013 . 
60. ↑ Boxing, edition from November 2003, p. 6 ff.
61. ↑ Boxing, edition of February 2005, p. 12 ff.
62. ↑ Boxing, edition from March 2005, p. 6 ff.
63. ↑ Berliner Zeitung: Attackers, very defensive
64. ↑ https://www.mopo.de/sport/sportmix/hammer--oezen-otto-macht--tiger--michalczewski-zum-universum-sportchef-33000550
65. ↑ according to bixreg.com
66. ↑ Tygrys oddaje interesy synowi (Polish)
67. ↑ The Co boxer woman bild.de, September 7th 2008
68. ↑ dziennik.pl, Michalczewski się ożenił. Zobacz za ile , April 12, 2009 ( Memento of the original from April 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
69. ↑ https://www.abendblatt.de/archiv/2000/article204340293/Hatte-der-Tiger-zu-viel-im-Tank.html
70. ↑ My wives cost me 10 million bild.de, March 26, 2011
71. ↑ movie info: Tiger german-films.de
72. ↑ "Nobody shits me" sueddeutsche.de, April 1, 2015
73. ^ Dariusz Michalczewski apparently arrested in Poland welt.de, December 22, 2016