Bobby Czyz

Bobby Czyz (born February 10, 1962), is an American boxer. A New Jersey native, he is a former world Light Heavyweight champion and Cruiserweight champion.

He was a member of the United States amateur boxing team that sadly died in the LOT Polish Airlines plane crash in Poland in 1980. However, an auto accident one week before the fatal trip prevented him from being on that plane.

Czyz had a quick start to his professional boxing career in the early 1980s and he was soon in line for a shot vs 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 1983.

He went up in weight, put another string of wins together, and in September of 1986, he finally found himself in a ring with a world champion, IBF Light Heavyweight champion Slobodan Kacar, who was destroyed by Czyz's bombs in 5 rounds.

Czyz made a few defenses and after losing his title, went up in weight and successfully challenged Robert Daniels for Daniels' WBA world Cruiserweight championship.

After he lost the title, he retired and became a television boxing an analyst. With his new career, Czyz has worked alongside Steve Albert and Ferdie Pacheco, covering fights in many locations worldwide. In 1994, he covered the first world title fight ever held in Ecuador as a member of Showtime's crew.

In 1996, he made a brief comeback as a competitive boxer in the Heavyweight division, but lost by knockout in 6 rounds to Evander Holyfield and quickly retired again.

Czyz has continued doing color commentary for Showtime, and loves signing autographs for his fans. He doesn't contemplate another return to the ring as a boxer.

On February 6 of 2003, Czyz was stopped by New Jersey police and charged with drunken driving. On March 8 of that year, he was sentenced to 10 days in jail for the charge.

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