Szpilka Wants to Win Title For, In Front of Polish Crowd

by David P. Greisman

Deontay Wilder is the defending heavyweight titleholder, but his challenger expects plenty of support when they fight on Jan. 16 in Brooklyn.

That’s because Artur Szpilka is from Poland, because the New York City/Northern New Jersey/Long Island area has more than 1 million people of Polish heritage, and because those of Polish heritage have a history of showing up in support of their fighters.

“There is no doubt that my crowd, the Polish crowd, will be predominant on Jan. 16 in Barclays Center,” Szpilka said on a Jan. 6 media conference call. “They will be like an additional glove in the ring for me. They are going to carry me to be a winner, to be a champion.”

And he wants to do something for this crowd that no Polish heavyweight has done before — win a world title. Andrew Golota didn’t do it. Neither did Tomasz Adamek.

“This is the most important part of this fight for me,” Szpilka said. “It’s to be part of the history, to become the first Polish heavyweight champion. Even after I am dead, people will say the Szpilka guy was the first Polish heavyweight world champion.”

He has a daunting task in front of him. Wilder is a step up in competition for Szpilka, whose lone loss came to Bryant Jennings in January 2014. Wilder is tall at 6-foot-7 and has shown power in scoring 34 knockouts in his 35 wins.

Wilder topped Bermane Stiverne by decision a year ago to win a world title and defended it twice since then with stoppages over Eric Molina and Johann Duhaupas. Wilder showed some vulnerabilities in those victories. The same could be said for Szpilka, who was down before coming back to beat Mike Mollo in both of their battles, and who was stopped by Jennings.

The fight is the main event of a Showtime broadcast.

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com