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Dariusz Michalczewski pseudonym: Tiger (born May
5, 1968 in GdaƄsk, Poland) is one of the most
successful, if somewhat controversial, Polish
boxing champion of recent years. Despite going
undefeated for the first 12 years of his
professional career and threatening several major
records, many critics say he hasn't been strongly
tested.

Nicknamed the "Tiger", Dariusz lives with his
family in Hamburg.

Now also a citizen of Germany and a native of
GdaƄsk, Poland, Michalczewski came up through
Poland's state-run sports program as a boy and had
a successful amateur career before turning
professional in 1991. Fighting mostly in
neighboring Germany, he began piling up wins and
was soon signed by Universum Box-Promotion, one of
the leading boxing promoters in Europe. His
aggressive style earned him the nickname The
Tiger.

He won the German national light heavyweight
(175-pound) title early in 1993 and added an
International Boxing Federation|IBF regional belt
later that year. Finally, on September 10, 1994,
Michalczewski captured the WBO world light
heavyweight title with a 12-round decision over
Leeonzer Barber.

Between then and March of 2003, Michalczewski made
23 successful defenses of his WBO title and picked
up three other belts along the way. Three months
after beating Barber, he won the WBO's
cruiserweight, 190 pound (86 kg) title with a
knockout of Nestor Giovannini. However, he soon
gave up that title to continue campaigning as a
light heavyweight.

On June 13, 1997, he won recognition by many as
the world's top light heavyweight when he
outpointed Virgil Hill over 12 rounds to add
Hill's World Boxing Association|WBA and IBF titles
to his own. However, Michalczewski soon lost both
titles. The WBA stripped him for displaying its
belt along with that of the WBO, an organization
it doesn't recognize. The IBF did so a few weeks
later, when Michalczewski refused to defend his
title against a mandatory challenger within 30
days.

After beating Hill, Michalczewski knocked out 14
consecutive opponents, all in defense of his WBO
title. However, he drew some criticism for never
fighting outside Germany, and also for never
facing Roy Jones Jr. Shortly after Michalczewski
beat Hill, Jones moved up to light heavyweight and
eventually captured the other three major belts in
the division. Boxing fans began to clamor for the
two men to meet one another in the ring, but it
never happened. Universum was reluctant to make a
fight for Michalczewski, a huge draw in Germany,
anywhere else. Meanwhile, Jones still harbors bad
memories of being robbed of a gold medal in the
1988 Olympic Games and prefers to fight only in
his native United States.

Even without facing Jones, Michalczewski has
posted some impressive victories, including those
over Hill and former world champions Graciano
Rocchigiani and Montell Griffin. 

Michalczewski had a perfect record of 48 wins and
no losses when he faced Julio Cesar Gonzalez of
Mexico in defense of his title on October 18,
2003. Coming into the fight, he was within one
victory of tying Rocky Marciano's all-time record
for an undefeated record by a world championship
boxer. A win also would have put him just one
victory short of Joe Louis' all-time record for
successful defenses at any weight class. However,
Michalczewski was unable to pull it off. He lost a
split decision to Gonzalez at the Color Line Arena
in Hamburg, Germany and his career record dropped
to 48-1.

Despite the loss, he still holds the record for
the most consecutive successful title defenses at
light heavyweight.

In October of 2004, it was announced that
Michalczewski would fight France's Fabrice Tiozzo
for the WBA light-heavyweight title on February
26, 2005 in Hamburg.

He fought him but he lost, and then he declared
the end of his career.

==External link==
*http://www.dariusz-tiger.de/ Official website