Bobby Czyz

Robert Edward Czyz (/ˈtʃɛz/ CHEZ; born February 10, 1962) is a retired American boxer, commentator, and member of Mensa. A New Jersey native of Polish descent,^[1] he is both a former world light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion.

Czyz was born in Orange, New Jersey. He lived in Wanaque, New Jersey and attended Lakeland Regional High School.^[2]

Nicknamed "Matinee Idol", Czyz was a member of the United States amateur boxing team whose other members died in the 1980 plane crash. Because of an auto accident one week before the fatal trip, Czyz was not on the 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 veteran Mustafa Hamsho in November 1982.

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 Kacar (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 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 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.^[3] 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.^[4] 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.^[4]

Professional boxing record

44 Wins (28 knockouts, 16 decisions), 8 Losses (5 knockouts, 3 decisions)[5]
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	44-8	Corrie Sanders	TKO	2	12/06/1998	Uncasville, Connecticut, United States	WBU World Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 1:43 of the second round.
Loss	44-7	Evander Holyfield	RTD	5	10/05/1996	New York City, United States	Czyz could not come out for the sixth round.
Win	44-6	Richard Jackson	TKO	6	05/12/1995	Biloxi, Mississippi, United States	WBU World Super Cruiserweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 1:24 of the sixth round.
Win	43-6	Jeff Williams	UD	10	22/09/1995	West Orange, New Jersey, United States
Win	42-6	Tim Tomashek	TKO	5	24/03/1995	West Orange, New Jersey, United States
Loss	41-6	David Izeqwire	RTD	4	04/08/1994	Mashantucket, Connecticut, United States	IBO World Cruiserweight Title. Czyz did not come out for the fifth round.
Win	41-5	George O'Mara	UD	10	19/02/1994	Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Win	40-5	Donny Lalonde	UD	12	08/05/1992	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States	WBA World Cruiserweight Title. 117-111, 116-110, 116-113.
Win	39-5	Bash Ali	UD	12	09/08/1991	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	WBA World Cruiserweight Title. 120-108, 120-108, 120-108.
Win	38-5	Robert Daniels	SD	12	08/03/1991	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	WBA World Cruiserweight Title. 119-112, 116-114, 114-116.
Win	37-5	Horacio Rene Brandan	TKO	6	21/09/1990	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 2:05 of the sixth round.
Win	36-5	Andrew Maynard	KO	7	24/06/1990	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	Maynard knocked out at 0:42 of the seventh round.
Win	35-5	Uriah Grant	UD	10	23/03/1990	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	97-93, 95-94, 96-94.
Loss	34-5	Charles Williams	RTD	10	25/06/1989	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	IBF World Light Heavyweight Title. Czyz could not come out for the 11th round.
Loss	34-4	Virgil Hill	UD	12	04/03/1989	Bismarck, North Dakota, United States	WBA World Light Heavyweight Title. 112-117, 111-117, 110-119.
Win	34-3	Mike DeVito	TKO	7	27/12/1988	Fort Myers, Florida, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 1:18 of the seventh round.
Win	33-3	Leslie Stewart	SD	10	25/10/1988	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	96-93, 96-95, 94-95.
Loss	32-3	Dennis Andries	MD	10	22/05/1988	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	95-95, 95-98, 94-96.
Loss	32-2	Charles Williams	RTD	9	29/10/1987	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States	IBF World Light Heavyweight Title. Czyz could not come out for the tenth round.
Win	32-1	Jim MacDonald	TKO	6	03/05/1987	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	IBF World Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 0:37 of the sixth round.
Win	31-1	Willie Edwards	KO	2	21/02/1987	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	IBF World Light Heavyweight Title. Edwards knocked out at 2:16 of the second round.
Win	30-1	David Sears	TKO	1	26/12/1986	West Orange, New Jersey, United States	IBF World Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 1:01 of the first round.
Win	29-1	Slobodan Kacar	TKO	5	06/09/1986	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States	IBF World Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 1:10 of the fifth round.
Win	28-1	Murray Sutherland	UD	10	26/07/1985	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	9-1, 9-1, 7-2.
Win	27-1	Mike Fischer	UD	10	09/05/1985	West Orange, New Jersey, United States
Win	26-1	Tim Broady	TKO	4	18/01/1985	Houston, Texas, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 1:41 of the fourth round.
Win	25-1	Marvin Mack	UD	10	23/10/1984	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	24-1	Mark Frazie	UD	10	30/05/1984	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	23-1	Jimmy Baker	TKO	1	15/02/1984	Totowa, New Jersey, United States
Win	22-1	Bill Medei	TKO	4	25/10/1983	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	21-1	Bert Lee	TKO	3	09/09/1983	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 3:00 of the third round.
Loss	20-1	Mustafa Hamsho	UD	10	20/11/1982	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	20-0	Chris Linson	TKO	2	25/09/1982	McAfee, New Jersey, United States
Win	19-0	Manuel Melon	TKO	2	03/07/1982	Totowa, New Jersey, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 1:24 of the second round.
Win	18-0	Bobby Coolidge	TKO	5	23/05/1982	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	17-0	Robbie Sims	UD	10	17/01/1982	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	6-3, 7-2, 6-3.
Win	16-0	Elisha Obed	DQ	6	12/11/1981	East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States
Win	15-0	Dan Snyder	TKO	2	08/10/1981	Totowa, New Jersey, United States
Win	14-0	Rick Noggle	TKO	7	26/07/1981	Tampa, Florida, United States
Win	13-0	Reggie Jones	TKO	7	18/06/1981	Totowa, New Jersey, United States	New Jersey Middleweight Title.
Win	12-0	Oscar Albarado	TKO	3	21/05/1981	Totowa, New Jersey, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 2:30 of the third round.
Win	11-0	Teddy Mann	UD	8	23/02/1981	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	10-0	Danny Long	TKO	5	08/02/1981	McAfee, New Jersey, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 2:05 of the fifth round.
Win	9-0	Skipper Jones	TKO	7	18/12/1980	Totowa, New Jersey, United States
Win	8-0	Tommy Merola	TKO	2	16/10/1980	Totowa, New Jersey, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 2:49 of the second round.
Win	7-0	Johnny Davis	TKO	1	18/09/1980	Totowa, New Jersey, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 1:40 of the first round.
Win	6-0	Leo Ferro	UD	8	21/08/1980	Totowa, New Jersey, United States
Win	5-0	Bruce Strauss	KO	4	17/07/1980	Totowa, New Jersey, United States
Win	4-0	Ronald Cousins	TKO	1	19/06/1980	Totowa, New Jersey, United States
Win	3-0	Dalton Swift	KO	2	22/05/1980	Totowa, New Jersey, United States
Win	2-0	Jamal Arbubakar	PTS	4	08/05/1980	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	1-0	Hank Whitmore	KO	1	24/04/1980	Totowa, New Jersey, United States

Outside of the ring

Czyz married actress and photographer Kimberly Ross (born October 8, 1959) 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, on December 19, 2006, aged 47.

He has since been inducted into the Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.

Czyz is a member of Mensa,^[6] 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 boxing triple champions

References

External links

• Bobby Czyz Official Website
• Professional boxing record for Bobby Czyz from BoxRec
• Michael Swann's 2007 multi-part interview with Bobby Czyz
  • Part One
  • Part Two
  • Part Three
  • Follow-up