What happened with this guy? :huh His initial rise as prospect was stunted by a clouting at the hands of Curtis "Showtime/The Chin-checker" Stevens. Wilk rebounded from that with a busy schedule over the next 1¾ years capped off by a stoppage of Asikainen to become European 168lb champion. He would lose in his first defense to James DeGale, but put up a tough battle and held Chunky to a MD. Five months later he reappeared on the world-class stage giving Abraham everything he could handle - and on my card Wilk actually edged Abe out, 114-113. You could very easily argue he defeated both of them. Both went on to become super middleweight titlists (Abraham WBO in 2014, DeGale IBF in 2015) Within a few short weeks of getting hosed in Germany (it would have been one thing if they had Abraham taking it narrowly, but those wide scorecards... :-() he was requested personally by Mikkel Kessler to spar & help the Viking Warrior prep for Allan Green. They apparently had a very grueling and long session which elicited high praise from Kessler, even going as far as to say he thought Wilk, despite being on the cusp of his 34th birthday that summer, could probably nab a world title if the right opportunity presented itself. Instead, eight weeks after the Abraham loss and just a fortnight after the Kessler vs. Green camp shut down to complete his sparring duties, The Wolf fought a Kazakh-Ukrainian journeyman with a losing record (by more than double!) and former welterweight in a 6-rounder, beat him by shutout - and hasn't been in a ring since. :? His speed, agility, chin, pop, and overall athleticism were bang-on average but somehow he managed to be greater than his parts' sum and was a very well-rounded fighter. He was clever at reading and reacting to opponents' strengths, could establish control with the jab at medium to long range, didn't shy away from infighting and could work the body well, knew how to use a strategic clinch effectively (and not excessively), and occasionally sat down on shots to get the attention of even iron-chinned opponents...and while he did get stomped by Stevens he eventually tightened up his defense and learned to roll with punches well enough to never be significantly hurt again despite some close-quarter melees with other guys that could thump...very loose with reflexes and keen anticipation in a way that his countryman Grzegorz "Herky-Jerky Self-Taught Slickness" Proksa always wished he could be. He was a more than decent amateur, probably among the best Poles in recent memory (defeating Eduard Gutknecht and Vyzcheslav Uzelkov among others in his international tries) and was hitting a stride in his pro career. So why did he vanish at the peak of his visibility/payday eligibility/h2h form? :think
Damn shame. That's some résumé he could have boasted if you nudged those decisions his way (in the case of the German scoring, it would require more than a "nudge" :! - and then getting that ringing endorsement from MK...you have to wonder how many good match-ups we missed with his absence. I'm not sure I wouldn't have favored him over Stieglitz, actually, so Mikkel could well have been right that he could've picked up a strap if he caught the right guy at the right time.
Maybe not a top dog at 168, but definitely top 10-15 in his prime, just not managed correctly (like many Poland-based fighters)
