photo: Jacek Boczarski
Today, January 17th 2012, the boxing world is reminiscing Muhammad Ali's fights. Today he is an idol to many people and he is celebrating his 70th birthday. I wish him the best health because in his case that is what is most important. Today he is sick and quiet and must depend on help from family. The whole world is wishing him a happy birthday today and is thinking about the unforgettable fights. When I started to box I quickly noticed everything that stood for him and how known he is in the boxing world. Back then, Zbigniew Pietrzykowski was my idol. He had to be my idol because at the beginning of his career he fought Casus Clay, meaning Muhammad Ali later on.It was one thing to hear about Pietrzykowski's successes in the ring and another to fight like him in the ring. I will not repeat his or Ali's successes because today is not that time. It is true that every once in a while boxers of class and high skill come around and reign in the rings. They are examples to follow. Following both of my idols I have achieved a lot. Winning world titles in two categories are important but I have one more goal I want to achieve.
World title in the third weight category, heavyweight, although it seems unrealistic. After losing to Kliczko, I realized that the first thing to do was not to cross that off my list. There are boxers who wanted to achieve multiple goals like mine but didn't stick to it. Can I do it? The answer will have to come in 2013. Right now I have to train, no matter what chances they give me for the title. Today I must talk about my experience with Ali. On 6/28/2010 in Chicago I received the beautiful Muhammad Ali Award. I received it being the first Polish man to receive it in 36 years. The award is for athletes that show Ali's characteristics in sports as well as everyday life. I couldn't forget that on his 70th birthday. His daughter Jamilah Ali handed me the belt which meant just as much to me. I returned the favor and gave her a traditional Polish goral belt from Zakopane. I saw a lot of joy in her eyes, she never knew she would be giving someone an award in her father's honor. At the same time Ali received a goral belt without fighting in the ring.
photo: Jacek Boczarski
Today I have more good news. I received good news from Poland, that my website is in the finals of the Polish Internet contest. I was invited to Wroclaw for the announcement of the winner but unfortunately I can't make it during that time. I am sharing this information since it is because of my fans that I made it that far. This is the link for the contest: http://www.polskiinternet.org.pl/
Everything points to the page working for what it was meant to do, connect the fans. I created it with a few people that I can name, Mike Gladysz, who operates the camera throughout my boxing adventures. Marta Kossecka Rawicz who writes articles and translates my blogs, Przemysław Madejski who cares for the technical aspects and Stanislaw Skrzynski who cares for the whole. All of them working together gives a great result since I've had almost two and a half million visits to my page in nearly two years. Sometimes I think about how much they all mean in documenting my sporting career. How many moments were able to be captured by a camera or words. Everything we do is not comparable to other media. I know that the web page is our fan's first hand source. I value reporters and boxing specialists on boxing portals. All of this helps me with what I do every day. I thank everyone that documents my life and is there to do it later on. I thank the fans for being interested in me. If the page wins, it will be for all of us.
A few words about training. I came back from my second time from St. Louis. Everything I did was pretty interesting. Now I have to spend a few days at home as I am coming closer to making decisions. I have to know when, where and with who I will step into the ring. Slowly we're looking for an opponent with whom I can start the year off right. A few more weeks and there will be details.
The Christmas tree is up and smells of holidays foods and cake are coming from the kitchen. Christmas Eve we spent with family and Christmas day was spent among friends. Later a family trip to Lake Placid to ski and for the New Year. We will welcome the New Year in American mountains instead of Poland. After that we will return to Kearn and prepare for my trip to St. Louis. I made plans with Roger Bloodworth for January 5th. That's how our closest plans are looking. What will happen with me after that is a big question mark. On December 18th I was with Ziggy Rozalski in New York and we received little statues. Ziggy was recognized as the best promoter in New York and I for professional boxing in New York.
Other people in the gala were known boxers, managers and promoters. There was time to talk about the past and the imminent future. The most interesting conversations were with known promoters and managers, during these conversations there were propositions of working together to organize fights. I hope that the first fight I will have will be in March at a gala in New York. It is important that I become know in USA and my fight can give fans a good show. This meeting gave me much satisfaction and introduced us to many important people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH4HhXV5eLc&list=UU1WrrnARou7u6Co7FUlamuw&feature=plcp
One thing is for sure in 2012, I want to prove in the ring that although time has passed I am ready to compete for the HW belt. I believe that the next time everything will go according my thoughts. We will achieve this by training hard and also by hard work of the whole team. After my loss with Kliczko I verified many things and will make sure not to make the same mistakes again. I weigh about 102kg which indicated that I have put on some muscle and that matters in this weight class.
I have recently received many letters for my birthday and for Christmas. I want to thank everyone very much from Poland and from all over the world for the kind words. My contact with Poland is phone calls, skype and watching the news on the internet. I was very sad to hear about Jerzy Kulej's health. He has always wished him well and I wish that he gets well very quickly. Box in Poland without him would be very different. I believe that he will still continue to commentate my fights. I want to thank the media for following my career and for showing my fights. Reports with who I almost have daily contact with know how difficult it is to reach a high level in this sport. I thank all the reporters for writing about my fights so vividly and also for reaching those fans that can't take part in my fights directly during the galas. I thank my fans for all the posts on my web page and on other forums on the internet. I know that amongst biased posts from boxing experts there are posts from fans to whom no rules apply. They don't like boxers from Poland for that reason but not enough to stop what they are doing. I want to wish all people from Poland well and especially those from my home, Gilowice. I wish everyone a wonderful and peaceful Christmas and for everything to be better than it was, in the new year.
From December 5th I will be training again in St. Louis. A short family vacation in Aruba and a birthday spent in Lake Placid, were my only few days of getting away from training. I swam a lot and ran on the beach in Aruba. In Lake Placid I strengthened my legs by skiing. Roger Bloodworth prepared another plan full of training to strengthen me.The trainings are supposed to enhance my balance and my ability to keep my position while fighting. Strength training should help the power of my hits. All this will come with time, no need to hurry. Some elements of European boxing we need to keep working on. I am promising a lot to myself after these work outs so that I can give different hits and have a better defense. My left i working very well but I have to work on my aim. I have to hi the aimed target more often. I have to shorten my distance and feel it out, this is a very important part of boxing. During training the trainer often shows me how other boxers have used these techniques.He often shows me Hollyfield's fights and talks about his style of fighting. He often stresses that my natural born tendencies and my knowledge later allow me to win fights in the ring. Training ends Wednesday and I will go home to be with my family and to prepare for the holidays. In the last few weeks there were many big boxing events. There was no leaving out shocking losses in fights at the top. Im happy that after a long fight Krzysztof Diablo Wlodarczyk beat the Australian Greene. That fight reminded me of my big battles with Briggs. I congratulate Diablo on his win on the Australian's turf. I was let down by Helenius who was a promising opponent for the Kliczko brothers. I was sad to hear the news of Pawel Wolak ending his career. Box is mixed with a lot of different emotions, not always know to the boxing fans. After the training ends my whole team will start making plans for the future. I am counting on three fights in 2012, which will bring me closer to my second chance at winning the title. The trainer and promotor will have a lot to speak about regarding this matter.
I was quiet for a long time but now it is time for another portion of information about my plans for the future. After I came back from Poland I had to rest for a week because I had gotten sick while I was there. A rich program during my stay including traveling many miles, meeting with Las Vegas reps had to all go on despite my physical condition. Today I am spending the day at a soccer match in Lodz and going to the Monster Truck events in Wroclaw. While in Warsaw I also met up with Maciek Krasnodebski because he asked me to as well as the Make a Wish foundation. I know that for him meeting me was a big dream come true and even though it happened last minute, with the help of many friends we made it happen and he will remember it forever. Maciek, being a young boxing fan, cheered me on through my fights in the ring and after meeting him in Warsaw will cheer him on to full health.
Since Friday, November 4th I will be near St. Louis, where I was training with Roger Bloodworth. Link: http://www.google.pl/search?q=saint+louis+usa&hl=pl&biw=1280&bih=553&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=75K6Tvb8Hq304QTwqKinCA&sqi=2&ved=0CDYQsAQ
A small town called Green Carbon right by St. Louis is my trainers home. He knows the local gyms here very well since he trained not only one boxer in this area. Going to train in St. Louis means a lot to both of us. I, being far from my family can concentrate on my training. Throughout this time we will be discussing our training details and executing the next phases of the planned activities. Today, after a few days of training I have to say that the trainer surprised me. We trained and as we were training we were discussing and he is showing me the mistakes I made in my earlier fights. He showed me writings about my previous fights on the computer. This way he shows me what I have to learn and how to present myself in the ring better. The work outs for the next two weeks have a goal of perfecting my technique in the ring. I am happy with how we are directly addressing my flaws and working on them in the ring. I have to work on my technique but not my speed. I wasn't quick enough in the ring with Kliczko but we know the causes of that. We made a few mistakes in the preparation for the fight in Wrocław. For example having adequate time to get used to the time difference in Poland. Now before a fight in Poland I will be sure to spend a whole training cycle in Poland. I noticed that the day of the fight my disposition was not ideal. After returning from St. Louis I am taking a vacation with my family to Aruba, since the fight with Kliczko did not allow us for an earlier vacation. After vacation its back to St. Louis for a photoshoot for Bloodworth's academy. We are going to sit down next year to organize the fighting schedule. I hope we can organize fights that are interesting for both me and my fans. We will include a fight in Poland. All these fights have to give me ranking fights so I can be in line for the HW championship. Im happy that Polish boxers are placed high in the rankings in some federations. More and more Polish fighters are fighting at galas organized in USA. There will be constant development of Polish boxing even during these tough economic times.
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
