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Andrzej Fonfara

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Andrzej Fonfara

Andrzej Fonfara (born 4 November 1987) is a Polish former professional boxer who competed from 2006 to 2018 and held the IBO light heavyweight title from 2012 to 2013. He also challenged twice in his career for the WBC light heavyweight title, and once for The Ring light heavyweight belt. He was based in Chicago for most of his career.

Andrzej began his career in boxing by joining the Warsaw boxing club Gwardia Warszawa. His trainers were Jacek Kucharczyk and Jerzy Rybicki. After some time he decided to transfer to another Warsaw boxing club, Legia Warszawa, and this time he trained with Krzysztof Kosedowski, Adam Kozlowski, and Lukasz Landowski. But he 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 U.S. He currently resides in the U.S. with his family in Chicago and trains with Sam Colonna (Andrzej Golota’s trainer). In 2009 he signed a contract with Dominic Pesoli's 8 Count Productions. That same year, Fonfara tested positive for anabolic steroids. His TKO win over Skyler Thompson was overturned, ending up in a No Contest.

At the beginning of 2010, he decided to move to light heavyweight division which was better suited for his body. In 2010 he won a WBC Youth Championship and in 2011 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 success early 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 been 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.

On June 10, 2013, it was announced that Fonfara would next fight 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 very well, dropping his opponent twice with sharp lefts and appeared close to stopping his opponent. Fonfara however, recovered very 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 & 115–110. CompuBox Stats showed over the 12 rounds, Stevenson landed 329 of 790 punches thrown (42%) and Fonfara landed 217 of his 613 thrown (35%).

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