Robert Edward Czyz ( ;Carnicelli, Joe. "Czyz, 19, Postpones College for Boxing," United Press International (UPI), Saturday 28 February 1981. Retrieved 27 August 2026. born February 10, 1962) is an American commentator and former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1998. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) light heavyweight title from 1986 to 1987 and the World Boxing Association (WBA) cruiserweight title from 1991 to 1993.

Czyz was born in Orange, New Jersey. He grew up in Wanaque, New Jersey and attended Lakeland Regional High School. He is three quarters Italian and one quarter Polish. His younger brother is avant-garde fiction writer Vincent Czyz.

Nicknamed "the Matinee Idol", Czyz was a member of the United States amateur boxing team whose other members died aboard LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 when it crashed in 1980. Czyz did not make the trip, as he was recovering from injuries sustained in a car accident.

Amateur career As an amateur, Czyz was doing his best to secure his spot at the U.S. Olympic team for the eventually missed 1980 Moscow Olympics. He was one of a few boxers (along with Sal Cenicola, Marvis Frazier and Tony Tucker) who survived the LOT Flight 7 crash by staying at home in the United States. He finished his amateur career having 26 fights under his belt, with a record of 24 wins, 2 losses.Bobby Czyz Amateur Record at the BoxingRecords. Last updated : March 1, 2006.

Professional career Czyz had a quick start to his professional boxing career in the early 1980s, and he was soon in line for a shot against world middleweight champion Marvin Hagler. He had to start from scratch, however, after suffering a one-sided, 10-round loss at the hands of veteran Mustafa Hamsho on November 20, 1982 in a bout that was nationally televised.

Czyz went up in weight, put another string of wins together, and in September 1986, he finally found himself in a ring with an undefeated world champion, IBF light heavyweight champion Slobodan Kačar (Olympic Gold medallist of 1980). Czyz beat him in five rounds.

Czyz made three defenses: a one-round defeat of David Sears, a see-saw second-round KO of Willie Edwards, and a fifth-round TKO of Jim McDonald - before taking on 'Prince' Charles Williams in October 1987. Czyz scored an early knockdown of Williams, yet the challenger not only stayed in the fight, but also hammered shut Czyz' left eye en route to scoring a TKO victory and thus seizing the title after nine rounds of boxing.

Czyz then lost a decision to Dennis Andries in May 1988, followed by a couple of victories, in turn followed by two cracks at the world title in 1989. Czyz, despite truly good efforts on his part in both challenges, lost both of them - a 12-round decision to Virgil Hill in North Dakota for the WBA version in March, and a 10th-round TKO loss to Williams in an IBF title rematch in June.

Czyz went on to stop then-undefeated Andrew Maynard in seven rounds (the second undefeated Gold medallist he KO'd) in June 1990, then jumped up to cruiserweight. He challenged Robert Daniels for Daniels' WBA world cruiserweight championship in March 1991, and won a unanimous decision. Two defenses, against Bash Ali and Donny Lalonde, were made (both by unanimous decision) before Czyz vacated the title.

In 1994, Czyz became a television boxing analyst working alongside Steve Albert and Ferdie Pacheco whilst continuing his boxing career. The trio covered fights in many locations worldwide. In December 1994, he covered the first world title fight ever held in Ecuador as a member of Showtime's crew.

In 1996, he stepped up to the heavyweight division, but lost by knockout in five rounds to Evander Holyfield and quickly retired. Czyz fought one last time in 1998, losing by second-round TKO to South African Corrie Sanders. Czyz continued doing color commentary for Showtime, but was let go after pleading guilty to his fourth drunken-driving offense in six years after being caught speeding in Readington Township, New Jersey. Czyz's case received a lot of attention as he was a multiple repeat DUI case, and was a driver behind the NJ Assembly revisiting its legislation. Czyz, who was a Raritan Township, New Jersey resident at the time, was given a six-month license suspension for each of his three drunken driving convictions in 1998, 1999 and 2000. It was discovered that he was sentenced improperly as a first-time offender after his fourth arrest, which occurred in February 2003 in Readington Township, where he was caught driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.14 percent. The state limit at that time was 0.10 percent.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes52Loss44–8Corrie SandersTKO2 (12), 12 Jun 199851Loss44–7Evander HolyfieldRTD5 (10), 10 May 199650Win44–6Richard JacksonTKO6 (12), 5 Dec 199549Win43–6Jeff WilliamsUD1022 Sep 199548Win42–6Tim TomashekTKO5 (10), 24 Mar 199547Loss41–6David IzeqwireRTD4 (12), 4 Aug 199446Win41–5George O'MaraUD1019 Feb 199445Win40–5Donny LalondeUD128 May 199244Win39–5Bash AliUD129 Aug 199143Win38–5Robert DanielsSD128 Mar 199142Win37–5Horacio Rene BrandanTKO6 (10), 21 Sep 199041Win36–5Andrew MaynardKO7 (10), 24 Jun 199040Win35–5Uriah GrantUD1023 Mar 199039Loss34–5Charles WilliamsRTD10 (12), 25 Jun 198938Loss34–4Virgil HillUD124 Mar 198937Win34–3Mike DeVitoTKO7 (12), 27 Dec 198836Win33–3Leslie StewartSD1025 Oct 198835Loss32–3Dennis AndriesMD1022 May 198834Loss32–2Charles WilliamsRTD9 (12), 29 Oct 198733Win32–1Jim MacDonaldTKO6 (12), 3 May 198732Win31–1Willie EdwardsKO2 (12), 21 Feb 198731Win30–1David SearsTKO1 (12), 26 Dec 198630Win29–1Slobodan KačarTKO5 (12), 6 Sep 198629Win28–1Murray SutherlandUD1026 Jul 198528Win27–1Mike FischerUD109 May 198527Win26–1Tim BroadyTKO4 (10), 18 Jan 198526Win25–1Marvin MackUD1023 Oct 198425Win24–1Mark FrazieUD1030 May 198424Win23–1Jimmy BakerTKO1 (10), 15 Feb 198423Win22–1Bill MedeiTKO4 (10), 25 Oct 198322Win21–1Bert LeeRTD2 (10), 9 Sep 198321Loss20–1Mustafa HamshoUD1020 Nov 198220Win20–0Chris LinsonTKO2 (10)25 Sep 198219Win19–0Manuel MelonTKO2 (10), 3 Jul 198218Win18–0Bobby CoolidgeTKO4 (10), 23 Mar 198217Win17–0Robbie SimsUD1017 Jan 198216Win16–0Elisha ObedDQ6 (10)12 Nov 198115Win15–0Dan SnyderTKO2 (10), 8 Nov 198114Win14–0Rick NoggleTKO7 (10), 26 Jun 198113Win13–0Reggie JonesRTD6 (10), 18 Jun 198112Win12–0Oscar AlbaradoTKO3 (10), 21 May 198111Win11–0Teddy MannUD823 Feb 198110Win10–0Danny LongTKO5 (10), 8 Feb 19819Win9–0Skipper JonesTKO7 (10)18 Dec 19808Win8–0Tommy MerolaTKO2 (10), 16 Oct 19807Win7–0Johnny DavisTKO1 (8), 18 Sep 19806Win6–0Leo FerroUD821 Aug 19805Win5–0Bruce StraussKO4 (8)17 Jul 19804Win4–0Ronald CousinsTKO1 19 Jun 19803Win3–0Dalton SwiftKO2 22 May 19802Win2–0Jamal ArbubakarPTS48 May 19801Win1–0Hank WhitmoreKO1 (4)24 Apr 1980

Outside the ring Czyz married actress and photographer Kimberly Ross (October 8, 1959 – December 19, 2006) on October 27, 1992. Their daughter, Mercedes Czyz, was born September 27, 1993. They were divorced by the time Kimberly died, after a long battle with breast cancer, aged 47.

He has since been inducted into the Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.

Czyz is a member of Mensa, the organization for people who have scored in the highest 2% of takers in an IQ test. He even wore a shirt with "MENSA" on it while walking to the ring to fight Evander Holyfield.

Czyz was diagnosed with head and neck cancer in 2024. He has sought aggressive treatment and the cancer is in remission.

See also List of world light-heavyweight boxing champions List of world cruiserweight boxing champions

References

External links

Michael Swann's 2007 multi-part interview with Bobby Czyz Part One Part Two Part Three Follow-up