Ring Observer Boxing by Scoop Malinowski
By Scoop Malinowski
Status: Former world champion boxer. Former IBF Light Heavyweight(1986) and WBA Cruiserweight champion (1991). Boxed pro from 1980-1998. Compiled a record of 44-8 28 KOs.
DOB: February 10, 1962 In: Orange, NJ
First Boxing Memory: First memory of throwing a punch – I punched my father in the jaw because he was smackin’ me in the face. I was four. He was teaching me how to fight and we actually have it on film in home videos. My first memory of fighting was in the Junior Olympics, my first fight was in Trenton, 105 pound class, age 13. I didn’t think my heart could go any faster, just racing with anticipation. I won the state title, I won every Junior Olympics tournament I ever entered, all but two I won. Foundation… it laid the ground work for what I did later.
Favorite Movie: Godfather, the original.
First Job: Boxing.
First Car: 1967 Firebird (green).
Greatest Sports Moment: Hard to put it in one moment… When I first won my first world title (vs Kacar 1986 for IBF Light Heavyweight title). It was… I’m not religious, I don’t believe in God and Heaven, but now I’m immortal,I’m in the record books, forever formed in history. So that was my immortality. That moment for me was large. To win the second title and a third sort of validated that I’m not a lucky one time crash. I enjoyed the whole ride. I set out to do something at age ten, fourteen years later I delivered. I’m just proud of the legacy I left behind.
Most Painful Moment: Losing a couple of fights, really I shouldn’t have lost because of injuries that I fought with, that I knew better, but it’s just one of those things, you just knew better. And that’ll bother me forever. (Which fights?) The (David) Izeqwire fight – I fought with a bad back. And the fight when I fought Dennis Andries I had a 102 fever. I was sick as a dog.
Last Book Read: I think it was Davinci Code.
Favorite Meal: I have to say a porterhouse steak with sauteed onions all over it, with a glass of Cabernet.
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Chocolate chip cookie dough.
Hobbies/Interests: Love to play golf, my favorite pastime, absolutely love it.
Current Car: I don’t have a car right now because my license has been suspended, so no sense in having a car.
Funny Career Memory: My first pro fight (KO 1 Hank Whitmore in April 1980). Because of Wide World Of Sports and the Olympic Team (1980 flight to Poland for tournament tragically crashed but Czyz had to miss the competition due to a car crash injury) and all that stuff, and my fighting the Irish team (on ABC TV). For my first pro fight there actually was a press conference and somebody actually cared about what I had to say. Because I was a local from Wanaque and all that, fighting in Totowa (Ice World). And the reporter said, Can you describe yourself? Who is Bobby Czyz? And I made the following statement: I’m the antithesis of the stereotypical fighter. Which got nothing but laughter and roars [smiles]. I just thought that was funny.
Pre-Fight Meal: Was pasta for days right up to it.
Hardest Puncher Encountered: I never fought him but I trained with him… the hardest puncher I ever faced in the gym was Ray Mercer. He hit harder with 18 ounce gloves than Holyfield did with 8 oz gloves. He hit me so hard I thought a piece of cement fell out of the ceiling and hit me in the head. That’s how hard he hit.
Strangest Fight: The only fight I had that didn’t go to a decision or win by knockout, disqualification was a guy named Elisha Obed, who used to have a junior middleweight world title. We fought in the Meadowlands (Byrne Arena 1981) and every time I hit him, he’d actually do a limbo so far back that he could lean back further than I could punch. And every time I’d knock him down to the floor, he’d grab my pants or my leg and pull back up. And the referee eventually DQed him for holding me and not fighting. Just the weirdest day there was.
Funniest Boxers Encountered: There are just some guys who are over the top. Prince Naseem Hamed. He was more of a sideshow. He had good skills but he was more of a show. And then you have some of the nuts. Mike was crazy. Mike Tyson – love him to death but biting the guy’s ear off takes the cake. That takes the cake. Talk about being at a one time ever event.
Favorite Boxers To Watch: I like fighters that come to fight. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate Muhammad Ali stereotype boxers from the outside. Guys that come to fight. I enjoy watching them fight. I like to watch Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao. I’ve actually stopped watching the fight the last couple of years I’ve been involved in some other things that have me on the computer and the phone for 14 hours a day. So I’m taking my time trying to put a new vocation, if you call it.
Fight(s) You Were At Your Very Best: Probably Diamond Jim McDonald (TKO 6 1987 Convention Center in Atlantic City). I just beat him from pillar to post. Destroyed him in every way in every round. I barely took a solid punch back. I think I was at my best that day.
Interesting fact: Bobby’s brother Vincent Czyz is a renowned writer and critic of literary fiction.
