I KOd 'World's Strongest Man' and lost to Deontay Wilder, but I started off as a football hooligan

13/06/2024 16:15

Artur Szpilka came to combat sports via an unconventional route.

The former boxing world title challenger cut his teeth in fighting as a football hooligan, marching with the ultras for Polish second-tier side Wisla Krakow.

Szpilka admits he wasn’t particularly interested in football and only joined the firm to get involved in ‘set-up fights’ – illegal bust-ups arranged between rival hooligans.

Ahead of one such contest with an opposing fan, local boxing coach, Wlodzimierz Cwierz, suggested that they settle their differences in the squared circle.

Both men accepted the offer with Szpilka coming out on top in the eventual fight.

He later started training with Cwierz and transitioned to boxing.

As an amateur, Szpilka won the Polish national heavyweight title and reached the quarterfinals of the junior world championships before turning over as a pro in 2008.

He built up an impressive 16-fight winning streak in the paid ranks which was eventually snapped by Bryant Jennings in 2014.

Szpilka didn’t dwell on the loss for too long though, as he was back in the ring 9 months later to record a massive win over Polish boxing great Tomasz Adamek.

Further wins over Ty Cobb, Manuel Quezada and Yasmany Consuegra followed as he quickly climbed up the WBC heavyweight rankings en route to a world title shot against Deontay Wilder.

Szpilka proved to be a tricky customer with his elusive style causing Wilder all kinds of problems early doors.

However, after several narrow misses, Wilder eventually found a home for his big right hand in the ninth stanza, which left Szpilka sprawled out on the canvas unconscious.

In the years that followed the Wilder knockout, Szpilka traded wins and losses with varying levels of opposition.

Fellow countryman Adam Kownacki halted his immediate resurgence by stopping him in the fourth round 18 months later, while a split decision win over Mariusz Wach got him back on course only for Derek Chisora to crush his world title aspirations.

The final nail in the coffin for his boxing career was a first demolition at the hands of Lukasz Rozanski in 2021, which prompted Szpilka to transition to MMA.

Under the KSW promotional banner, Szpilka won his first two fights inside the distance against Serhiy Radchenko and Denis Zalecki before landing a fight with five-time ‘World’s Strongest Man’ winner, Mariusz Pudzianowski.

On paper, Pudzianowski looked to be a tall order for Szpilka.

The strongman legend had already competed 26 times in pro-MMA and came into the fight as a heavy favourite.

It seemed as though Szpilka had bitten off more than he could chew when Pudzianowski dumped him on his back in the opening ten seconds.

The muscle-bound 46-year-old controlled Szpilka on the ground for the entire first round while raining down heavy strikes from full mount.

To the surprise of many, Szpilka made it out of the first frame and in the second stanza, after evading another takedown attempt from Puzianowski, he landed a crisp left hook that sent his adversary down and out.

The victory earned Szpilka a No.6 ranking in the KSW heavyweight division and led to a bout with Polish kickboxing icon Arkadiusz Wrzosek.

Following a very dramatic entrance that saw Szpilka get wheeled out in a cryo chamber he was pulled to the ground and finished by a flurry of shots in 14 seconds.

It is unclear where his MMA career will go from here and whether he will choose to return to boxing.

But there are rumours floating around that he may be eyeing up a bare-knuckle boxing bout with Polish promotion Gromda, whom he works as an analyst for.