14 Facts About Dariusz Michalczewski

Dariusz Tomasz Michalczewski was born on 5 May 1968 and is a Polish-German professional boxer who competed from 1991 to 2005.

Dariusz Michalczewski held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the WBA, IBF, WBO and lineal light heavyweight titles between 1994 and 2003, and the WBO junior-heavyweight title from 1994 to 1995.

Dariusz Michalczewski came up through Poland's state-run sports program as a boy and had a successful amateur career.

On 24 April 1988, while competing beyond the Iron Curtain in West Germany for the Polish national team, Dariusz Michalczewski defected from the amateur team to stay in West Germany.

Dariusz Michalczewski won the German International light-heavyweight title early on 13 February 1993, a title for foreign-born fighters based in Germany.

Dariusz Michalczewski then won the IBF Intercontinental title on 22 May 1993.

Between then and March 2003, Dariusz Michalczewski made 23 successful defenses of his WBO title against 20 different boxers, and picked up three other belts along the way.

However, Dariusz Michalczewski soon lost both alphabet titles; Scandalously, the WBA immediately stripped him for displaying its belt along with that of the WBO.

Dariusz Michalczewski was then forced to relinquish the IBF title when he was unable to defend the title in a court-ordered defense against mandatory challenger William Guthrie within a little over a month after the bout with Hill.

However, as when Larry Holmes went for the same record against Michael Spinks, the now 35-year-old Dariusz Michalczewski was unable to pull it off.

In October 2004, it was announced that Dariusz Michalczewski would come out of retirement to box France's Fabrice Tiozzo for the WBA light heavyweight title on 26 February 2005 in Hamburg.

Dariusz Michalczewski was stopped in six round, then he announced his retirement in May 2005.

Dariusz Michalczewski was to come out of retirement to fight German boxing icon but suspected cheat Sven Ottke in Germany in May 2008, but the bout never materialized.

In 2003 Dariusz Michalczewski established foundation "Rowne Szanse" which was aimed at supporting initiatives for youth from dysfunctional families.