Mike Kurzeja is your everyday police officer turned Secret Service agent/professional boxer with a nationwide nutritional supplement sponsorship.
The series of events that led to him protecting the President by day and trading leather at night begins with a bored Chicago cop.
“I was at a crossroads in my career,” he recounts, “I didn’t want to be a police officer for another 10 years, so I decided to apply to federal agencies. The Secret Service told me I could still be based out of Chicago if I came to work for them. It was a no-brainer at that point.”
In his spare time, Kurzeja took to boxing in college and then as a police officer, became involved in the Police Athletic League’s program. In 2000, he started fighting in the annual Chicago-area Super Cop Tournament, a charitable boxing event for fallen officers, and won three times.
It was the promoters of Super Cop who suggested Kurzeja consider turning professional. “I got my license and the rest is history. I made my debut in 2009.”
Meanwhile, because he is a physical fitness buff, he applied for sponsorship from the biggest supplement company in the world, Optimum Nutrition, and they agreed to become his sponsor. “They take care of me. I got lucky. Most of the people they sponsor are national-level body builders and fitness models. I’m the only boxer.”
And thus, Agent Kurzeja (4-0, 4 KOs) is in final preparations to appear on the Hitz Boxing Fight Night event on Saturday, April 9, at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana. He is scheduled to face Ohio’s Ross Niggemyer (2-1, 2 KOs).
“He can punch and seems like a worthy opponent. Hopefully I’ll be able to show the improvements I’ve made in training.”
Off work, Kurzeja is friendly, likeable and even calls himself mellow. At work, he can’t even talk about what he does. “I can’t speak specifically about what I do during the day,” he explains. “In the Secret Service, we’re a dual-mission agency that provides a protective function, we protect the president and vice-president, and we have an investigative function. Let’s leave it at that.”
Kurzeja is wildly popular among his law enforcement colleagues and they flock to his fights. “I get a lot people from Super Cop come out to support my boxing. And then of course I get people from the Secret Service, so I do have a good-size following from the law enforcement community.”
Mike Kurzeja’s life is not for everybody and certainly not for the timid. It takes discipline, dedication and courage to do the things he does. He says if everything goes right he’ll be adding the word champion to his many descriptions.
“I plan to build up my record and keep stepping up my competition level and with God’s grace I’ll hopefully fight for some sort of title in the fall.”
Also scheduled to appear are: Yakubu “Black Mamba” Amidu (19-2-1, 16 KOs); Chicago light welterweight Russell Fiore (4-0-1, 4 KOs); Chicago super middleweight Ninos Abraham (5-0, 2 KOs); Chicago heavyweight Dave Latoria (7-0, 3 KOs); Chicago junior lightweight Paulie Settepani making his pro debut; and Hammond welterweight Ruben “Modern Day Warrior” Galvan (27-15-4, 10 KOs) in separate bouts.
For more information, please visit: www.hitzboxing.com.
WHEN: Fight Night at Horseshoe Casino
Saturday, April 9, 2010
Action Starts at 7:00 PM. Doors open at 6:00 p.m.
Price: $10 – $90
TICKETS AVAILABLE AT TICKETMASTER AND AT:
www.thevenue-chicago.com
Must be 21 or older to attend shows. Must be 21 or older to gamble.
WHERE: THE VENUE AT HORSESHOE CASINO
777 Casino Center Dr., Hammond, IN, 46320
Horseshoe Box Office: 219-473-6060
