Izu Ugonoh

Izuagbe "Izu" Ugonoh (born November 2, 1986 in Szczecin, Poland) is a Polish professional boxer and kickboxer of Nigerian descent. He graduated from the Jędrzej Śniadecki University School of Physical Educations and Sport in Gdańsk. Ugonoh is currently ranked as the WBO number 15 heavyweight boxer in the world.

Biography

Izuagbe was born to Nigerian parents in the Polish city of Szczecin. He trained kick boxing at Gdańsk club GKSK Corpus. Due to his similarity in appearance and fighting style he is sometimes called the Polish Remy Bonjasky. He has also been inspired by Gökhan Saki.

In 2009, in the Austrian city of Villach, he won the Kickboxing World Championships gold medal in the formula K-1 Rules to 91 kg.^[1] In 2010, he became European champion in the same formula in Baku. He met the local Azeri Zamika Atakisziwa in the final.^[2][3]

On October 16, 2010, he made his debut as a boxer in Legionowo beating by a first round KO Igoris Papunia from Latvia.^[4] He fought his second professional fight on November 20, 2010, in a show in Nysa, during which he defeated Pavel Habra by technical KO in the first round.

Ugonoh also played a wrestling cameo in the Polish movie Afonia and the bees (2009) directed by Jan Jakub Kolski.

He calls himself a “black Pole” and says that he proudly represents Poland on international arena. He often jokes that when he look into mirror, he doesn't know “what happened”, according to his skin color as ethnic Poles are Caucasian.^[5]

Professional boxing record

15 Wins (12 knockouts, 3 decisions), 0 Losses, 0 Draws[6]
Res.	Record	Opponent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location	Notes
Win	15–0	Vincente Sandez	KO	1 (10), 1:11	2015-12-05	Claudelands Arena, Hamilton, Waikato	Retained interim WBO Africa Heavyweight title.
Win	14–0	Ibrahim Labaran	TKO	1 (10), 2:38	2015-10-15	Trusts Stadium, Henderson, Auckland	Won interim WBA Oceania & interim WBO Africa Heavyweight titles.
Win	13–0	Will Quarrie	KO	2 (10), 2:14	2015-08-01	Stadium Southland, Invercargill, Southland
Win	12–0	Julius Long	UD	8	2015-06-13	Arena Manawatu, Palmerston North, Manawatu
Win	11–0	Thomas Peato	TKO	2 (6), 1:15	2015-03-05	Vodafone Events Centre, Manukau, Auckland
Win	10–0	Junior Maletino Iakopo	TKO	2 (6), 1:04	2014-10-16	Trusts Stadium, Henderson, Auckland
Win	9–0	Lukasz Rusiewicz	UD	6	2013-02-23	Ergo Arena, Gdańsk, Pomeranian
Win	8–0	Mathieu Monnier	TKO	5 (6)	2012-12-08	Spodek, Katowice, Silesian
Win	7–0	Björn Blaschke	TKO	6 (6), 1:05	2012-03-17	MOSiR Ice Rink, Krynica-Zdrój, Lesser Poland
Win	6–0	Florians Strupits	TKO	1 (6), 1:50	2011-12-03	Hilton Warsaw Hotel and Convention Centre, Warsaw, Masovian
Win	5–0	Fatih Ceyhan	RTD	3 (4), 3:00	2011-11-12	Gdynia Sports Arena, Gdynia, Pomeranian
Win	4–0	Patrick Berger	TKO	2 (4), 2:08	2011-10-15	Spodek, Katowice, Silesian
Win	3–0	Rashid Raad	UD	4	2011-04-02	Łuczniczka, Bydgoszcz, Kuyavian-Pomeranian
Win	2–0	Pavel Habr	TKO	1 (4), 2:47	2010-11-20	AZS PWSZ Nysa, Nysa, Opole
Win	1–0	Igor Papunia	KO	1 (4), 1:29	2010-10-16	Arena Legionowo, Legionowo, Masovian	Professional debut.

References

1. ↑ "World Light Contact, Low Kick, K -1 Villach, Austria 19-26.10.2009 Rules". Polish Association of Kickboxing. Retrieved November 26, 2010. 
2. ↑ "Bałanda and European champions Ugonoh". trojmiasto.pl. Retrieved November 26, 2010. 
3. ↑ "Description of the championship fights Izu website GKSK Corpus". gkskcorpus.pl. Retrieved November 26, 2010. 
4. ↑ "Impressive victory 'Izu' in debut". ringpolska.pl. Retrieved November 26, 2010. 
5. ↑
6. ↑ . Boxrec.com.

External links

• Ugonoh at Polish FilmWeb