Andrzej Fonfara

Andrzej Fonfara, also known as The Polish Prince, was a Polish former professional boxer who competed from 2006 to 2018. He held the IBO light heavyweight title from 2012 to 2013 and challenged twice for the WBC light heavyweight title and once for The Ring light heavyweight belt.

Fonfara's professional boxing career spanned more than 12 years, during which he fought a total of 36 fights, winning 30, with 18 ending in a knockout. Fonfara suffered five losses in his professional boxing career, two of which were in title bouts and three in non-title fights.

He was born on November 4, 1987, and began his career in boxing by joining the Warsaw boxing club Gwardia Warszawa. After some time, he transferred to another Warsaw boxing club, Legia Warszawa, where he trained with Krzysztof Kosedowski, Adam Kozlowski, and Lukasz Landowski. However, Fonfara didn't stay there for long and transferred back to his original club. This time he was working with Stanislaw Lakomiec, with whom he won his biggest trophies. Finally, as a senior, he trained with Paweł Skrzecz and Sebastian Skrzecz, and with them he ended his amateur career.

His professional career began in 2006 at Ostrołęka, where he won by majority decision against Czech fighter Miroslav Kubik. After this fight, he got a chance to train and fight in the United States, where he lived with his family in Chicago and trained with Sam Colonna, who was Andrzej Golota's trainer.

In 2009, Fonfara signed a contract with Dominic Pesoli's 8 Count Productions. However, that same year, Fonfara tested positive for anabolic steroids, and his TKO win over Skyler Thompson was overturned, ending up in a No Contest.

At the beginning of 2010, he decided to move to the light heavyweight division, which was better suited for his body. In 2010, he won a WBC Youth Championship, and in 2011, he won the WBO NABO Title. On September 23, 2011, he won by TKO in the second round against Jose Spearman in his hometown of Chicago.

Fonfara fought 43-year-old former world champion Glen Johnson (51-16-2, 36 KOs) on June 13, 2012, at Chicago's UIC Pavilion. Fonfara defeated Johnson via a controversial unanimous decision with the three judges scoring the bout 99–91, 97-93, and 97–93. Johnson had some early success landing with power shots and jabs when in range, but Fonfara had the better stamina and speed and worked over Johnson, who was fading, for the final four rounds. Fonfara connected well from the distance with jabs, followed by right hands and only allowed Johnson a chance when he chose to fight in close. Johnson announced his retirement after the fight. It was the first time Fonfara had gone beyond seven rounds.

Following his first major win against Johnson, Fonfara challenged former world title challenger Tommy Karpency (21-3-1, 4 KOs) for the vacant IBO light heavyweight title. The fight took place at the UIC Pavilion on November 16, 2012. In front of 4,224 on a Friday night, Fonfara won the Vacant IBO title after stopping Karpency in round 7. Fonfara started well, until Karpency got in on the action through the middle rounds. In round 7, Karpency slipped and fell on his back, after pleading to the referee to help him up, he eventually got up himself and waved the bout off. Fonfara refused to shake Karpency's hand after the fight. There was bad blood from the beginning of the fight. At the time of stoppage, Karpency was ahead 57-55 on two of the judges' cards, whilst the third judge had it 57-55 for Fonfara. Karpency was knocked down twice in the 1st round.

In June 2013, Fonfara fought against Spanish boxer and former world champion Gabriel "EL Chico Guapo" Campillo. The fight would be shown live on ESPN Friday Night Fights on August 16 at the U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago. The IBO did not sanction the bout and stripped Fonfara of the title. The IBF later sanctioned the fight as an eliminator. Fonfara won the bout via 9th-round knockout. The final blow was a left body shot, which dropped Campillo for the 10 count.

In January 2014, Fonfara notified the IBF, who had ordered him to fight Dmitry Sukhotsky in a final eliminator, that he would pass on the opportunity because he had agreed a deal to fight lineal/WBC/The Ring champion Adonis Stevenson. IBF would instead order Sukhotsky to fight their #3 ranked Cedric Agnew. In February, Stevenson signed a deal with boxing adviser Al Haymon. The fight was scheduled for May 24 on HBO, until HBO cancelled the date from their boxing schedule. On March 25, Michel confirmed the fight would take place on Showtime instead. Stevenson started off very well, dropping his opponent twice with sharp lefts and appeared close to stopping his opponent. However, Fonfara managed to recover well, even dropping Stevenson in the ninth round. Stevenson similarly recovered quickly. The two fighters exchanged punches in a good-action final round, and the crowd gave the fight a standing ovation. Stevenson won the fight as the judges scored it 116–109, 115-110, and 115–110.

After the fight with Stevenson, Fonfara signed a contract with Al Haymon. Six months later, in November 2014, Fonfara made a comeback

Andrzej Fonfara Fight Record