Artur "Art" Binkowski (; born February 19, 1975) is a Polish-born

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the W ...

boxer who competed for his adoptive country Canada at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

in Sydney, Australia.

Background

Binkowski came to Canada from Poland at the age of 13. He studied psychology at the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to "Uptown" Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also operates ...

Amateur career

Binkowski was Ontario amateur heavyweight champion for 6 years. He took part in the Olympics 2000 at superheavyweight. There he was defeated in the quarterfinals by

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

Rustam Saidov Rustam Saidov (Рустам Саидов; born 6 February 1978) is a boxer from Uzbekistan, who competed in the Super Heavyweight (+91 kg) at the 2000 Summer Olympics and won the bronze medal. Career In Athens at the 2004 Summer Olympics, ...

Professional career

Nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

d "The Polish Warrior", the resident of Mississauga,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, made his debut as a professional on November 23, 2001, in

Southfield, Michigan Southfield is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 76,618. As a northern suburb of Detroit, Southfield shares part of its southern border with Detroit. The city was originall ...

, against Michael Moncrief of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. In 2005, Binkowski lost to a lightly regarded countryman Patrice L'Heureux. Although Binkowski sported the better record, he came in as an underdog against hard-hitting American amateur star

Rafael Butler Raphael Butler (born January 4, 1984) is an American retired Heavyweight boxer and mixed martial artist. A professional boxing competitor from 2004 until 2011, he fought fighters the likes of David Price, Malik Scott, Eddie Chambers, and Chris ...

on ShoBox in April 2007. He hit the deck three times in the first round but scored a stunning come-from-behind TKO in the final round of their bout. Binkowski was crushed in a 2nd round TKO loss to Mike Mollo in October 2007. On 19 October 2013, Binkowski was defeated by

Krzysztof Zimnoch Krzysztof Zimnoch (born 6 September 1983) is a Polish professional heavyweight boxer affiliated to the Hetman Białystok Boxing Club. He holds an amateur win over former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. Professional career Zimnoch ma ...

in Poland,

Wieliczka Wieliczka (German: ''Groß Salze'', Latin: ''Magnum Sal'') is a historic town in southern Poland, situated within the Kraków metropolitan area in Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999. The town was initially founded in 1290 by Premislaus II of ...

Outside the ring

He also played the boxer John 'Corn' Griffin in the movie "

Cinderella Man ''Cinderella Man'' is a 2005 American biographical sports drama film directed by Ron Howard, titled after the nickname of world heavyweight boxing champion James J. Braddock and inspired by his life story. The film was produced by Howard, ...

", starring

Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Max ...

External links

*
Art Binkowski @ Internet Movie Database
1975 births Living people Heavyweight boxers Boxers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Boxing people from Ontario Canadian male boxers Olympic boxers for Canada Polish emigrants to Canada People from Bielawa Polish male boxers Sportspeople from Lower Silesian Voivodeship Sportspeople from Mississauga {{Poland-boxing-bio-stub

Background

Amateur career

Professional career

Outside the ring

See also

External links