Return of Wilk!! (Piotr Wilczewski)

This coming Saturday in his native Dzierżoniów - two months after his fortieth birthday - the former European super middleweight champion makes his first ring appearance in over six years. His eight-round match is the main event of a small hall show that unfortunately will not be televised, as most households domestically will be tuned into Diablo Włodarczyk vs. Al Sands taking place simultaneously in a separate venue elsewhere in Poland.

Wilk used to be a very good fighter, who fought hard three minutes of every round despite lacking a spiteful KO punch (although, ironically, his greatest victory was a dramatic late knockout against the chinny Finn glass cannon Amin Asikainen); he was sort of a "tweener" in that on any given night he could be run close by a squarely Euro-level guy like Geard Ajetovic (whom the Pole defeated by SD) or give world class operators hell and even deserve the nod against them. Such was the case in his two biggest steps up in class, a pair of (IMO) robbery decision losses to James DeGale and Arthur Abraham. Don't let the scores in the latter fool you; it was extremely close and on my card Wilk edged it 114-113. Interestingly, the former outcome was almost unanimously derided with most agreeing Chunky was extremely fortunate to escape without a blemish of some kind (a loss or at least a draw) - although I personally had DeGale just squeaking by at 115-113. Wilk's only legitimate defeat was an early TKO at the hands of prime "Showtime" Curtis Stevens, back in his fearsome "Chin-Checker" days when Andre Dirrell (in)famously and shamelessly ran from him all night.

Now, with six years of rust and on the wrong side of 40, it puzzles me that someone who got by on sheer grit & engine would think he could mount a successful campaign. I mean, he'll almost certainly mop the floor with this sub-.500 Georgian if he's even 50% of his old self - but after that, what's his endgame? I would have loved for him to not disappear off the scene in 2012 (anybody know why?) - as he still probably had something to offer and could have tested some of the division's then up-and-comers like Groves, Jack, Chudinov, Oosthuizen, etc as probably a live underdog giving up 116-112 range decisions...or even snatched a few zeroes from the likes of Tyrone Zeuge. Now, though? I'm not sure what the point is. At some point if he doesn't stick with hapless Georgians, somebody undeserving is going to get to lay claim to being the next person to stop him after Stevens.

Here's the Abraham vs. Wilczewski RBR & video:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/abraham-wilczewski-rbr.391418/

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Here's the DeGale vs. Wilczewski RBR & video:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...-james-degale-vs-piotr-wilczewski-rbr.350570/

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Indeed. He wasn't a full on feather-fist; he could get and keep guys' respect and could sting you if he caught you right...he just wasn't a KO artist.

I'd compare him with say Eduard Gutknecht in that respect. And honestly in ballpark of quality. That would've been a great h2h fight, and reasonably enough could have taken place.

 

Still about 50-50 that he can stop Giorgi Kandelaki.

On the one hand, Georgia is the Brazil of Europe. On the other, compared to his countrymen Giorgi has a damn near ATG chin, by which I mean only half a dozen of his 31 losses are by KO.

 

Still no card results on BoxRec but here's the video:

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