BOBBY CZYZ INTERVIEW
Posted on | October 1, 2007 | 3 Comments
Part One: Don’t Quit!
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but do not quit.
When Bobby Czyz was a little boy, he tacked a copy of this poem to his bedroom wall. He read it every morning when he got out of bed, and every night before he went to sleep. The identity of the poem is disputed, though
it is frequently attributed to Edgar A. Guest. In a very real sense, it may have been written about Bobby Czyz.
Bobby was born into a working class Italian-Polish family in Orange, NJ, in 1962. Like many boys from that generation, he grew up with a father who was a strict disciplinarian. But by the time he was a teen-ager, Bobby had figured out that the sole purpose of discipline should be to instill a sense of self-discipline. And that self-discipline is what allowed Czyz to win three world’s titles in professional boxing.
Over the years, I have had the opportunity to interview a wide range of people, from the top environmental attorney in the United States, to one of the last traditional chiefs of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. I
recently had a chance to speak with Bobby Czyz for an exclusive for UnlimitedFightNews.com, and it ranks with the most interesting conversations I’ve had the pleasure of participating in.
I could easily picture this man as a college professor, or a politician, as he effortlessly included poetry, astronomy, biology, history, politics, and religion into our conversation. In this article, I will focus on the topic
of boxing. I hope that the readers enjoy this:
Q: How did you become interested in boxing?
A: I was mainly interested in football from the time I was 5. But at age 10, my father brought me to a gym in Paterson. He wanted to “forge the steel” in his sons. And it worked, because by the time I was 15, I could go toe-to-toe with the toughest 25 year olds there.
My nose was broken one day, and I needed surgery. My father said I didn’t have to go back to the gym any more. But I told him that guys I was beating in the gym were making $15,000 per fight. That was real money. And even more than that, I wanted to be someone special – and becoming a world champion was a way to make my mark.
Q: What are you favorite memories of amateur boxing?
A: I fought amateur from the age of 10 to 18. I won the New Jersey Jr. Olympics, and fought on the US team in Canada, and in North Carolina against the Irish team. One of the things that really meant a lot to me was after I got put in over my head in the Nationals, and lost to one of Manny Steward’s fighters. Afterwards, he came over and told me that even though I lost, he could see that I had more talent than his fighter. He encouraged me to stick with boxing.
Things like that stick with a kid. Any kid. Adults need to tell them that they are capable of success. If you think you are someone special, you become special.
Q: Describe the transition of turning professional.
A: On one hand, a round is still a round. But the focus is different. In the amateurs, it’s numbers, numbers, numbers. In the pros, it’s presentation. And preparation. You start out at 4 rounds, then 6, then 8, and eventually 10 and 12 rounds. I was boxing when title fights were still 15 rounds.
Anyone can have a bad day. So you learn enough about yourself to where you can prepare yourself where, at the end of training, you will have your best hour when you get in that ring. If you are well-prepared, then it’s a hell of a ride.
I turned pro with a class of fighters that included Tony Ayala, Rocky Lockridge, Mitch Green, and Tony Tucker. Those guys started off making more money than me – I only made $200 in my debut – and they all had a lot of potential. But I was more serious about being prepared, and I went on to accomplish more than any of them.
Q: In your 17th fight, you were matched with Robbie Simms, in a battle of undefeated young contenders. What was it like to reach the top rankings in your division?
A: It was a “coming of age” experience. People said that I couldn’t go 10 rounds, and that Simms was too strong. But I decked him in the 10th, and finished stronger. I imposed my will on him.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow–
You may succeed with another blow.
Q: A few fights later, you met Mustafa Hamsho for the right to challenge Marvin Haglar. It was your first loss. Some fighters are destroyed by their first loss, and others come back stronger. What process did you go through after that fight?
A: I had to answer the question: How do I make myself better? There were two parts to that process. The first was the mental part. After Ray Leonard said that after losing to Duran, he came to realize the experience taught him how to beat Duran. So I focused on how to improve my boxing skills.
The second part had to do with my out-growing the middleweight division. I was 20 years old, taking water pills to lose weight. When you weaken yourself doing things like that, you can get injured. I broke my hand in the
Hamsho fight. I knew that I would be stronger in the higher weight class.
Q: What are your thoughts on fighters cutting weight?
A: It can be dangerous to play games with your body. You want to be in great shape, but some fighters put on 14 pounds between the weigh-in and the fight. You have to be careful how you re-hydrate your body..
Weigh-ins really shouldn’t be the day before the fight. It doesn’t matter for heavyweights, of course. They could weigh-in a month before they fight. But the weigh-ins should be the day of the fight.
Q: After moving up, you won the light heavyweight title, at the age of 24. How did that feel?
A: I was so happy that I started to cry. I thought of a poster in the gym that said the victories in life that come quick and easy don’t last. I had just reached the status of being in the elite group of men who held a
world’s title. A lifetime of struggle had helped me reach my dream.
Q: Before you won the title, your last fight had been tough Murray Sutherland, a battle between two guys that no one really wanted to fight. Suddenly, all those guys who avoided you as a contender want a shot at your
title. How hard is it to keep the title?
A: Once you are the champion, you have a bull’s eye on your back. Everyone is gunning for you. Everyone will be at their best when they fight you. They know that second place in boxing is last place, and they want what you’ve got.
Listen, I understand why people would say that I couldn’t have beaten Haglar. He was the Keeper of the Gate, one of the greatest champions in boxing history. But I really wanted a shot at him.
Q: How did you prepare for 12 round fights?
A: Remember, I was preparing for 15-rounders, too. I’d move up the amount of round work. I increased the endurance drills, especially on the bag. And lots of sparring.
I also did serious research on things such as nutrition, and how to prepare myself to hold off muscle fatigue in the later rounds. I had shorter arms than most of the guys that I was fighting. So I had to find ways to be in
good enough condition to impose my will in the later rounds.
Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Q: My favorite Bobby Czyz fight was when you were matched with Andrew Maynard. He was an Olympic Champion, and an undefeated prospect. You were at a stage in your career when his people considered you a stepping-stone for him on his way to the title. But you set a pace he couldn’t keep up with. Describe that fight.
A: It wasn’t just the pace. We had watched tapes of his fights, and Tommy Parks said that he wasn’t man enough to beat me. He was a better boxer technically, but he had been dropped in his last fight. I saw mistakes that I could exploit.
Early in the fight, I knew that my punching power intimidated him. As I pressured him, I could tell that I was breaking his will. If you look at the film, you’ll see that after I drop him, he stays down until the count
reaches “ten and a half.”
Q: You won the cruiserweight title at the age of 29. How was that different than being champion at the age of 24?
A: It was a great experience. In ways, it was really more gratifying than winning the first title. It proved that the first one wasn’t a fluke.
Then I went on to win the WBU Super Cruiserweight title. I was fighting another undefeated guy, Richard Jackson, who was expected to beat me. He totally dismissed me. I broke his jaw and knocked him out.
Q: Do you think boxing needs to have a weight class that divides the heavyweight division?
A: Sure. Guys who are 6’2″ and 210 pounds shouldn’t be in the same weight class as guys who are 6’5″ and 250 pounds. The size difference is just too much.
Q: Looking back, other than not fighting Haglar, what else would you have changed?
A: Sugar Ray Leonard moved up and beat Donny Lalonde, someone I beat. I wish that he had challenged me. But I’m proud of my career. I made my mark in boxing history.
Success is failure turned inside out–
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit–
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.
In April, 2007, Bobby Czyz was a passenger in an automobile that was involved in a serious accident. While the others in the car escaped injuries, Bobby was knocked unconscious, and was in the burning car for over 9 minutes before being rescued. He had a serious concussion, 3rd degree burns, and damage to both lungs. Doctors told his family and friends that he was not expected to survive.
Bobby Czyz has survived. Today, he is involved in a struggle that is more important to him than any boxing match. He is fighting for something far more valuable than a boxing title. Bobby has a daughter, Mercedes Czyz, who means the world to him. Her mother, Kimberly, died of cancer. Czyz is a single parent, who is faced not only with the continuing process of recovery from his injuries, but with some huge medical bills.
I did an article on a September fund-raiser, hosted by former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes and former contender Chuck Wepner. The event was a success. But he has a long way to go.
Interviewing Bobby Czyz was a real pleasure. He accomplished his goals in the ring, and I am confident he is going to accomplish much more in life.
Boxing fans who wish to help Bobby with his ongoing and enormous medical bills can send contributions to: Bliss Lounge; 955 Allwood Road; Clifton, NJ, 07012; c/o Joey Barcelona.