By Ken Hissner
In the modern day boxing era even in the 80’s a white fighter had to earn respect. If you were good looking and could articulate your words it doubled what you had to do. When Bobby “Chappie” Czyz came out of the amateurs as a member of the US Boxing team and still at Lakeland Regional High School he was a target for many.
“When I turned pro there were articles telling how I was an “A” student (member of Mensa the top 2% IQ’s in the world) and that I was white, bright and polite, but could I really fight? Imagine, reverse discrimination in the sport of boxing,” said Czyz. The ESPN group put the tag The “Matinee Idol” on him right away. His nose had been broken in a car accident which ended up a blessing since he was to go to Poland with the US National team that crashed and killed all aboard in March of 1980.
NBC had introduced several members as “Tomorrow’s Champions” including Tony Ayala, Jr., Johnny Bumphus, Dave Moore, Alex Ramos, Rocky Lockridge and Tony Tucker. They chose to leave Czyz out of the group that Lou Duva had put together. It wasn’t until he defeated Teddy Mann, 20-5, in his eleventh fight that they put him in the group. He had defeated Danny Long, 18-0, in his previous fight.
“I trained at the Lou Costello gym in Paterson, NJ, from 1972 to 1980. Tommy Parks was my trainer,” said Czyz. He turned pro at the Ice World, in Totowa, NJ, in April of 1980 dropping Hank Whitmore and finishing him off with a right hand that buckled his knees while knocking out his mouthpiece. The referee stopped it in the first round.
Czyz helped make the Ice World famous having fought all but 2 of his 11 fights there. In his fifth fight he headlined there stopping veteran Bruce “The Mouse” Strauss, 33-13-2. Being from Wanaque, NJ, it was almost like fighting at home for him. In his next fight after defeating Mann they brought in Oscar “Shotgun” Albarado, 56-8-1, with 41 knockouts and the former WBC/WBA light middleweight champion who won 4 of his last 5 fights.
Here was Czyz in his twelfth fight in the co-feature with future champion Rocky Lockridge. Czyz stopped Albarado in the third round. Next would be a fight with the former Marine Olympian Reggie Jones, 16-7-1, from Newark, NJ, who was 13-3-1 in his last 17 fights including a draw with Mustafa Hamsho. Czyz would stop Jones for the USA NJ State middleweight title with Jones retiring in his corner in 7.
Finishing up 1981 Czyz defeated Elisha Obed, 84-12-4, the former WBC light middleweight champion who was disqualified for holding. Next would be Robbie Sims, 12-0, the half brother of Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Sims had defeated James unbeaten “Hard Rock” Green and O’Dell Leonard, Ray’s cousin. “I dropped Sims in the tenth and final round. It was a bit of a turning point,” said Czyz. He dropped Sims with a right hand with over 2 minutes to go but Sims held his way to the bell. The win put Czyz in the world ratings and was the highest Nielsen rated NBC Sportsworld fight in history.
After the Sims fight 3 more knockout wins followed and bringing Czyz to 20-0 and a major fight with Mustafa Hamsho, 34-2-2, the Syrian out of Brooklyn. This southpaw was known for his “rough” tactics and had wins over Wilford Scypion, Bobby “Boogaloo” Watts, Curtis Parker and the UK’s Alan Minter. He lost to Hagler for the WBC/WBA title the year before on cuts in 11 rounds. Duva told Czyz he would get 125k. Czyz turned it down. Duva would come back with a 175k offer. We all know how that works.
Hamsho was rated No. 3 and a win could propel Czyz into a possible title bout. It was a bout some critics said was pushing him too fast. “I got sick 2 days before the fight. The money was much I couldn’t pull out. I took diuretics to make the weight,” said Czyz. It would be the last time he made 160.
“I broke my hand in the second round,” said Czyz. He didn’t mention it to his corner so when he lost the decision the news people were not easy on him. A bone graft was taken from his hip and he was in a hand cast for 3 months and out of action for 10 months. In June of 1983 his father committed suicide. They had an abusive relationship growing up.
Czyz stopped 4 of his next 6 opponents including the No. 6 contender Tim Broady, 15-1-1, in Houston. Broady had a couple of knockout wins over Philly’s Charles Singleton, 17-0, a former amateur champion and Anthony Witherspoon, 9-2, Tim’s brother. In the second round Broady landed a right and left that stunned Czyz. He came back strong.
In the fourth round Czyz started using his jab to offset the punching power of Broady until a left hook dropped Broady. Czyz walked right at Broady and rocked him with a right hand followed by a left right combination as the referee came in stop it Broady hit the canvas. It was a sensational stoppage win for Czyz in 1:41 of the fourth round.
Czyz was trying to get a super middleweight title bout. Duva also had Murray Sutherland who got the vacant title bout and won the IBF title. Instead of his first defense being Czyz it was South Korean Chong Pal Park with Czyz to get the winner. Anyone with any sense knew the chances of Sutherland going to South Korea and coming back with the title was a fool. Sutherland lost and Duva had no contract with Park. Czyz was lied to and it wasn’t the first time you can be assured.
Czyz and former champion Sutherland, 47-12-1, who won 5 straight by knockout after losing his title the year before were matched. Both fighters came in under 170 with Czyz winning a lopsided decision. Frustrated, Czyz split with Duva deciding to go it alone and shoot for the 175 title knowing the South Korean who beat Sutherland wouldn’t fight him. It was evident Czyz would have defeated Sutherland for the title if he had gotten the shot before Park.
It was over a year without a fight and the negotiations with IBF light heavyweight champion Slobodan Kacar, 21-0, were made for Las Vegas in September of 1986. Kacar was a former Gold Medalist from the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. He defeated Eddie Mustafa Muhammad by split decision to win the vacant crown. This would be his first title defense.
“I went to Italy to see the fight. It was very close. I got to look in Kacar’s eyes and I could saw his fear. I knew I could knock him out,” said Czyz. It was over a year without a fight and the negotiations with IBF light heavyweight champion Kacar were made for Las Vegas in September of 1986.
Kacar had Angelo Dundee in his corner. He also had 4 inches in height on Czyz and used his jab but little use of his right. Czyz was always the aggressor scoring with good body shots. In the fifth Czyz had Kacar hurt with a punch that spun him around as Czyz was following up he hit him in the back and Kacar hit the canvas. It couldn’t be avoided. Referee Joey Curtis didn’t give a count. Czyz was all over Kacar at this point and landed over 20 straight punches driving the champion from one end of the ring to the other before Curtis put a stop to it at 1:10 of the fifth declaring Czyz the new IBF light heavyweight champion.
Just 3 months later Czyz made his first defense easily stopping the No. 6 contender David Sears, 17-2-1, in 1:01 of the first round with wicked body shots. This was like a warm-up for another defense 2 months later against tough Willie Edwards, 22-2-1, out of Detroit who was the NABF champion having wins over Matthew Saad Muhammad, Sears, Donny Lalonde and Anthony Witherspoon.
The fight was a 2 round war from the opening bell. Edwards knocked Czyz into the ropes just prior to the end of the first round. If it were in the middle of the ring it would have been a knockdown. In the second round with both fighters cut over the left eyes it was a slugfest until a right hand rocked Edwards. Czyz followed up with a left right combination and down went Edwards for the count at 2:16.
Czyz was back in the ring 3 months later stopping “Diamond” Jim MacDonald, 20-3, in the sixth round. MacDonald’s nose was blood and was dangerous to the end. Czyz just overpowered him. It would be almost 6 months before Czyz would defend against the ever dangerous “Prince” Charles Williams, 26-4-2, the USBA champion in Las Vegas.
With 3 seconds to go in the second round Czyz landed a right that had the knees of Williams shaking. He followed up with another right and left as Williams hit the canvas just before the bell. In the third round Czyz came out after Williams landing a left hook driving Williams toward the ropes. He followed up with a barrage of punches when a left right drove him into the ropes as Williams grabbed the top rope to break his fall or otherwise he would have been down. The referee Carlos Padilla gave Williams a count.
Czyz was all over Williams banging away when they had a clash of heads. Czyz was stunned as Williams landed 5 straight uppercuts before Czyz fired back. It was a sudden turn of events that even the announcers did not pick-up on. The trainer of Williams, Smiley Hayward encouraged Williams to put more pressure on Czyz whose right eye was starting to badly swell by the end of the round. By the end of the eighth with the right eye of his closed Czyz couldn’t come out for the ninth. It seemed he never recovered from the clash of heads in the third.
Hoping to bounce back in his next fight against the former champion Dennis Andries, 30-7-2, Czyz lost a majority decision. In his next fight he was able to get by former champion Leslie Stewart, 26-3, by split decision. This earned him a title fight in March of 1989 against WBA champion Virgil Hill with Czyz losing a decision over 12 rounds in North Dakota.
A poorly advised rematch with Williams was taken just 3 months later. The rematch lasted one more round with Czyz being stopped in the tenth. In March of 1990 Czyz decided to go up to cruiserweight to take on Uriah Grant, 17-7, in Atlantic City with Czyz taking the decision.
A match with unbeaten Olympian Andrew Maynard, 12-0, was made at 175. Czyz suffered a pinch nerve in his neck and advised he couldn’t make 175 since missing some training. The fight went on just over the 175 limit with Czyz stopping Maynard in the seventh round when he drove the previously unbeaten Maynard to a knee where he took the count. “Sugar” Ray Leonard was at ringside being the manager of Maynard. Czyz threw out a challenge to him. Like Hearns, Leonard wasn’t interested. Leonard had won the WBC light heavyweight title in 1988.
In March of 1991 Czyz got a title bout with Robert “Preacherman” Daniels, 19-1-1, for the WBA cruiserweight title in Atlantic City. Daniels was just coming off a draw defense with this being his fourth against Czyz. He won the vacant title against Dwight Muhammad Qawi. Czyz was a 3 ½ -1 underdog. “Daniels was too strong for me. I had to slip and box him,” said Czyz. This he did in winning the title by split decision.
Promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank had signed him for 225k but came back and said he would have to cut it to 185k but give him 40k in tickets. After Czyz agreed Arum made the announcement he “gave” Czyz the tickets. It wasn’t the tickets he gave him if you know what I mean. When word got out Czyz couldn’t sell them because friends thought he got them for free. He made a deal to sell them for half price with the network which put his purse up to 205k.
In August Czyz defended his title winning every round over Bash Ali, 36-12, over 12 rounds in Atlantic City’s Convention Center. After this fight Ali would fight until he was 46 posting a 29-1 record only losing in another title fight. While waiting to make his next defense he would start working for Showtime.
His defense was against Donny Lalonde, 35-3, the former WBC champion who had won 4 straight by knockout since losing to Leonard. Czyz would defeat Lalonde over 12 rounds in Las Vegas.
It would be 21 months before he came back at his highest weight at that time of 192. He won a decision and 6 months later fought murderous puncher David Izeqwire, 15-0 (13), for his IBO cruiserweight title. Czyz was knocked down in the fourth and couldn’t answer the bell for the fifth. He announced his retirement.
Czyz came out of retirement after 7 months stopping Tim Tomashek, 50-11-, in 5 rounds. He was over 200 for the first time in his career. He followed up with a win over Jeff Williams 6 months later. The end of the year he stopped Richard “Action” Jackson, 19-0, for the vacant WBU Super Cruiserweight title.
In May of 1996 Czyz took on Evander Holyfield, 31-3, at Madison Square Garden. He would be fighting on HBO for the first time in his career. After the third round Czyz came back to his corner complaining his eyes were burning like crazy. It was later suspected that Tabasco sauce was put on the gloves after a conversation with Bert Cooper who experienced the same thing in a bout with Holyfield. At the end of the fourth round Czyz couldn’t come out due to the pain and lack of vision.
The referee Ron Lipton checked Holyfield’s gloves and didn’t discover anything. Well by the time the inspection took place those gloves could have been wiped off if not during the round. The skin on the face of Czyz was peeling off the next day as if after a bad sunburn. Czyz accused Holyfield of being a dirty fighter with his head and elbows. I don’t think anyone would argue about that if they have seen Holyfield fight. Ask Mike Tyson.
It would be over 2 years out of the ring and Czyz couldn’t get fighting out of his system. He took on one of the most underrated heavyweights in this writers mind. Sanders would be later known for the boxer who knocked out Wladimir Klitschko for the WBO title and then lost to his brother Vitali. This 6:05 southpaw would be defending his WBU title. “He hit me so hard and so fast I knew I was finished,” said Czyz. It was over halfway through the second round.
Czyz would finish his career at 44-8 with 28 knockouts.
In 2007 Czyz was in a bad car accident while falling asleep in the back of a car when the driver fell asleep and drove into a tree. Czyz was induced into a coma and twice his life almost was lost. He was in the car which caught fire for 8-9 minutes and had burns on his body but the worst part was severe damage to his lungs. They collapsed and he was put on a ventilator. He had a miraculous healing.
Czyz is no longer with Showtime but is doing some PPV work. I met him in 2009 at a show in New Jersey that he was broadcasting. We discussed the plane crash in 1980 that I did a story on. Though most of my work on the history of boxing is the Philadelphia boxers I was asked to do something on the New Jersey retired boxers. The first boxer to come to mind was Bobby “Chappie” Czyz.
KEN HISSNER: Bobby, what kind of amateur record did you have and what was your greatest achievement in the amateurs?
BOBBY CZYZ: I was 22-4 with 2 Jr. Olympic state championship Gold medals and with 2 Regional championship Gold medals and 1 Bronze medal in the Nationals. I fought for the US team twice. The firs time I won a decision against the Canadians and the second time I won by third round knockout against the Irish team which was on National TV and probably the highlight of my amateur career.
KEN HISSNER: You were scheduled to go on the plane to Poland in 1980 that went down with no survivors of the USA boxing team. A car accident the month before made it impossible for you to fight. Did this influence you in turning professional instead of going to the Olympic trials?
BOBBY CZYZ: I turned pro BECAUSE WE BOYCOTTED the Olympics in 1980. I figured that I would get a head start on my professional career, not realizing that if I went to the Olympic trials and won that I could have turned pro making A LOT more money for my early fights.
KEN HISSNER: You won your first 20 fights when your manager Lou Duva offered you a fight with top rated Mustafa Hamsho. He said the purse was 125k which you turned down. When he came back shortly with a 175k offer is that when you started mistrusting his judgment?
BOBBY CZYZ: It was somewhat of an indication that his judgment would ALWAYS put his needs and the need’s of the promotion first, even at my expense. Based on the way things went down with that fitght, my faith in Lou was never the same.
KEN HISSNER: Duva promised you a shot at the Murray Sutherland and Chong-Pal Park winner in July of 1984. Duva had Sutherland who traveled to South Korea to defend his IBF super middleweight title and lost. Duva told you after the fight he had no contract with Park. Did you feel deceived?
BOBBY CZYZ: YES, I DID! Lou told me that he had promotional rights to BOTH FIGHTERS and that I would fight the winner except, he never thought Park would beat Sutherland. He never signed Park! Once again, I felt betrayed and decided that I was intelligent enough and good enough to manage myself to a world title. MAN PEOPLE told me it couldn’t be done but, I PROVED THEM ALL WRONG!
KEN HISSNER: 3 months after the Park-Sutherland fight you defeat Marvin Mack but are now up to 175. Less than a year later Mack gets a title bout with Park and you are winning for the IBF light heavyweight title. You had defeated Sutherland a year after he lost to Park weighing 169 just before your IBF title. Was there a chance to fight Park then?
BOBBY CZYZ: It didn’t seem probably to fight Park, even though I tried to get that shot. As it was now, I became the mandatory challenger for the 175 title against the winner of Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and Slobodan Kacar (the 1980 Olympic Gold Medalist). Also, I was feeling a lot more comfortable at 175 than 168. As time and destiny would have it, that was my fate, the light heavyweight world title on September 6, 1986. The day that I would become IMMORTAL AND WALK INTO SPORTS HISTORY!
KEN HISSNER: After 3 title defenses in less than 5 months you take on your mandatory in “Prince” Charles Williams. You have him down once and only his grabbing the top of the ropes prevented another knockdown though he was given a standing 8. Shortly after this you clash heads if youtube.com served me right. The fight had a complete turnaround at that point in his favor. Did the clash of heads cause this or the standing count that gave Williams time to re-coupe?
BOBBY CZYZ: The clash of heads is what started my eye swelling so badly. Unfortunately I had over trained for the first Williams fight and was drained (it’s worse than under training by A LOT!) That swelling eventually became a big factor in the fight. There is NO STANDING 8 COUNT in Nevada and we protested that but the protest fell upon deaf ears.
KEN HISSNER: You lose to Andries after that but defeated Stewart, 2 ex-champs. You then fought Virgil Hill for his title and lose. Why did you take the Williams rematch in your next fight?
BOBBY CZYZ: At the time, it was the only fight that was offered to me so, I took the fight.
KEN HISSNER: In 1991 you defeat Robert “Preacherman” Daniels for the WBA cruiserweight title. After a couple of defenses you are hurt in an accident which causes you to forfeit the title being our 21 months. Were you ever the same after that?
BOBBY CZYZ: Yes, this is when I was hit by a car. I had a slight impacted fracture in my pelvis and a seriously herniated the L-4 and L-5 vertebrae on the right side of my back. That injury caused me to quit during the David Izeqwire fight. Right now I am in enormous pain from that injury and must go to a specialist for expensive treatments 3-4 times per year.
KEN HISSNER: After a defeat to David Izeqwire for the IBO title you win 3 straight as a heavyweight before losing to Holyfield. Your eyes were burning which caused you to quit. Bert Cooper said the same thing happened to him in losing to Holyfield. Rumor was Tabasco sauce was rubbed on the gloves but never proven. “Smokin” Bert Cooper told you he had the same thing happen when fighting Holyfield. What were your thoughts and what was done to inspect the gloves or corner? Also, do you believe Holyfield was on steroids?
BOBBY CZYZ: I had independent corroboration from a NY police officer that Tabasco sauce was on the gloves, but he wouldn’t testify as to how he found out. Holyfield does a monthly cycle of Winstrol before each fight. To bulk up from 188 when he was a cruiserweight, he used anabolic steroids as well as Synthetic Human Growth Hormone to become a legitimate heavyweight. I HONESTLY BELIEVE that Holyfield had so little regard for me that he DIDN’T use the Winstrol when he fought me and didn’t train well eithe4r. That is why he was so light and performed poorly.
KEN HISSNER: 2 years later you come out of retirement and fight 6'5 South African southpaw Corrie Sanders for his WBU title and lose in 2 rounds making it your final bout of your career. He would later stop Wladimir Klitschko for the WBO title in shocking fashion. What made you take such an opponent at that time? Was it your advisor Arnie Rosenthal?
BOBBY CZYZ: Yes, Arnie was advising me but I couldn’t get a fight with anyone else so I took the shot. Sanders, is deceivingly fast and hits harder than it appears on tape. I thought Sanders was ahead when they stopped the Lennox Lewis fight and was robbed.
KEN HISSNER: There are too few good color commentators on the networks especially former boxers. I do believe you will be back on a national level in time. I want to thank you for taking the time and for all your fans out there can you give us some encouragement about that?
BOBBY CZYZ: I definitely believe that, with my combination of tremendous experience in the boxing world coupled with my MENSA mentality, that I am the MOST QUALIFIED expert analyst that there has ever been but, politics is more powerful than ability. IT’S JUST THAT SIMPLE!
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