In terrible news, it has been reported that former two-weight world champion Bobby Czyz has been diagnosed with brain cancer. The 62-year-old, who fought the likes of Robbie Sims, Mustafa Hamsho, Slobodan Kacar, “Prince” Charles Williams, Dennis Andries, Virgil Hill, Robert Daniels, Donny Lalonde, and Evander Holyfield, was diagnosed a short while back.
Currently, there is a charity set up where fans can send in money to help Czyz, who really was one of the most exciting ring warriors of his time. Venmo @LiBoxingCharities or Cash App @$LilboxingCharities is where people who wish to help Bobby can do so.
Czyz, who enjoyed a long and well-respected career as a commentator for Showtime after hanging up his gloves (Czyz called, among other bouts, the infamous ‘Bite Fight’ between Holyfield and Tyson), almost lost his life in an April 2007 car crash, the stricken former fighter inhaling smoke in the fiery wreck. Thankfully, Bobby pulled through, yet now, sadly and unfairly, he is fighting a far tougher opponent.
Czyz, known as “The Matinee Idol” and “Chappie” during his fighting career, is a very intelligent person, with him being a member of Mensa, where people who get in do so by scoring in the highest 2% of takers in an IQ test. Hugely popular in his fighting days, Czyz fell on hard times financially after being let go by Showtime due to a DUI incident. Bobby had to work as a bagger in a grocery store.
Indeed, with all the highs and lows he has encountered during his quite amazing life, the Bobby Czyz story really is the stuff a movie maker could pick up on, should pick up on. Hopefully, Czyz, a tougher hombre of the highest order, both in the ring and out of it, can beat the odds one more time and defeat the cancer he is currently battling.
Life is not fair, and Bobby Czyz deserves a far better hand than the one he has been dealt.
Czyz was the IBF light heavyweight champion from September of 1986 to October of 1987, and he was the WBA cruiserweight champion from March of 1991 to May of 1992. His final ring record reads 44-8(28).
