Izuagbe Ugonoh (born 2 November 1986) is a Polish

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

and former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

and

kickboxer Kickboxing ( ) is a full-contact hybrid martial art and boxing type based on punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouth guards, shorts, and ...

. He is a graduate of the

Jędrzej Śniadecki Jędrzej Śniadecki (archaic Andrew Sniadecki; ; 30 November 1768 – 11 May 1838) was a Polish writer (essayist and satirist), physician, chemist, biologist and philosopher. His achievements include being the first person who linked rickets to ...

University School of Physical Education and Sport in

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

Early life

Izuagbe was born to Nigerian parents in the Polish city of

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

. He graduated from the Jędrzej Śniadecki University School of Physical Educations and Sport in

Kickboxing career

He trained kick boxing at

club ''GKSK Corpus''. Due to his similarity in appearance and fighting style he is sometimes called the ''Polish

Remy Bonjasky Remy Kenneth Bonjasky (born January 10, 1976) is a Surinamese-Dutch former kickboxer. He is a three-time K-1 World Grand Prix heavyweight champion, winning the title in 2003, 2004, and 2008. He is widely considered one of the greatest kickboxe ...

''. He has also been inspired by

Gökhan Saki Gökhan Saki (born 18 October 1983Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n city of

Villach Villach (; ; ; ) is the seventh-largest city in Austria and the second-largest in the federal state of Carinthia. It is an important traffic junction for southern Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the population is 61,887. Together wit ...

, he won the Kickboxing World Championships gold medal in K-1 Rules to 91 kg, defeating

Vladimir Mineev Vladimir Konstantinovich Mineev (; born February 16, 1990) is a Russians, Russian Middleweight Kickboxing, kickboxer and mixed martial artist. Biography Vladimir Mineev was born on February 16, 1990, in the suburbs of Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk ...

. In 2010, he became European champion in the same formula in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

. He met the local

Zamig Athakishiyev Zamig Athakishiyev (28 June 1986) is an Azerbaijani- Turkish kickboxer. Titles *2011 WBKF European title (91 kg) champion *2010 RMO Istanbul tournament champion *2010 Wako European (91 kg k-1) finalist Kickboxing record See also * ...

in the final.

Professional boxing career

Early career

On 16 October 2010, he made his professional debut as a boxer in

Legionowo Legionowo is a city in Masovian Voivodeship in east-central Poland, seat of the Legionowo County. Location Legionowo is located to the north-east of the center of Warsaw and only to the south of Zegrze Reservoir ( or ), near the Warsaw-Gda ...

, beating Igoris Papunia from

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

by first-round knockout. He fought his second professional fight on 20 November 2010, in a show in Nysa, during which he defeated Pavel Habra by technical KO in the first round. Ugonoh's first fight of 2011 was against Rad Rashid on the 2 April. Ugonoh won the bout by unanimous decision over four rounds. Ugonoh went on to gain five stoppage wins by the end of 2012. He fought once in 2013, defeating Lukasz Rusiewicz by unanimous decision in a six-round bout. In 2014, Ugonoh started training under Kevin Barry while being signed to Duco Events, and became a regular sparring partner for

Joseph Parker Joseph Dennis Parker, (born 9 January 1992) is a New Zealand professional boxer. He has held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Interim championship, interim heavyweight title since 2024. Previously, he held the WBO heavyweight title from 2016 ...

. Ugonoh also fought once in 2014 knocking out Junior Maletino Lakopo in two rounds. Ugonoh next fought on the 5 March 2015, against Thomas Peato. Ugonoh won the bout by second-round knockout. He went on to gain wins over Julius Long and Will Quarrie before facing Ibrahim Labaran for the interim WBA Oceania and

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

Africa heavyweight titles. Ugonoh won the fight by first-round knockout. He also got a first-round knockout win against Vicente Sandez in December 2015. Ugonoh's first fight of 2016 was against Ricardo Humberto Ramirez, which he won by knockout in the fourth round. Ugonoh next fought on the 1 October, knocking out Gregory Tony in two rounds to pick up the vacant IBF Mediterranean heavyweight title. In December 2016, Ugonoh left his promoter Duco Events David Higgins after being with them for two years. Ugonoh shortly signed with Al Haymon after his departure from Duco.

Ugonoh vs. Breazeale

On the 25 February 2017, Ugonoh faced former world title challenger

Dominic Breazeale Dominic Angelo Breazeale (born August 24, 1985) is an American former professional boxer. He has challenged twice for heavyweight world titles; the IBF title in 2016 and the WBC title in 2019. As an amateur, he represented the United States a ...

on the under card of

Deontay Wilder Deontay Leshun Wilder (; born October 22, 1985) is an American professional boxer. He held the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight title from 2015 to 2020. By winning the title, Wilder became the first American world heavyweight champion si ...

vs Gerald Washington, in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. Breazeale was ranked #11 by the WBC at heavyweight at the time. Ugonoh was ranked 7th in WBO and 9th in IBF. In a back and forth fight which saw both men hit the canvas, Breazeale came out on top after he dropped Ugonoh through the ropes in the fifth round. The fights' third round won the round of the year from

The Ring Magazine ''The Ring'' (often called ''The Ring'' magazine or ''Ring'' magazine) is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into questio ...

. This was the last fight Ugonoh fought under his trainer

Kevin Barry Kevin Gerard Barry (20 January 1902 – 1 November 1920) was an Irish Republican Army (IRA) soldier and medical student who was executed by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence. He was sentenced to death for his part in a ...

Career from 2018

After losing to Breazeale in 2017, Ugonoh next returned to the ring on the 25 May 2018.

Ugonoh vs. Kassi

Ugonoh faced Fred Kassi in a ten-round bout, winning the fight by stoppage after Kassi was retired on his stool at the end of the second round.

Professional boxing titles

World Boxing Association The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded ...

** interim Oceania heavyweight title *

World Boxing Organization The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

** interim Africa

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

title ** Africa

title *

International Boxing Federation The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts. The others are the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing C ...

** Mediterranean heavyweight title

Professional boxing record

Mixed martial arts career

On July 11, 2020, news surfaced that Ugonoh transitioned from boxing to mixed martial arts and had signed a contract with

Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki (English: ''Martial Arts Confrontation''), better known by its initials KSW, is widely considered to be the premier mixed martial arts organization in Poland and one of the leading in Europe. Awards *Violent Money TV ** ...

. He made his mixed martial arts debut at KSW 54 on August 29, 2020. In his first fight he defeated Quentin Domingos. Ugonoh was scheduled to make his sophomore MMA appearance against the undefeated heavyweight prospect Thomas Narmo at KSW 60, but Narmo was forced off the card on March 6 with an rib injury. The undefeated German Uğur Özkaplan served as Narmo's replacement. In turn, Özkaplan was replaced by Marek Samociuk. He lost the bout via TKO in the second round after gassing in the first round. Ugonoh rematched with Marek Samociuk at KSW 70 on May 28, 2022. He lost the bout again, losing via TKO stoppage due to ground and pound in the first round.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 1–2 , Marek Samociuk , TKO (punches) , KSW 70: Pudzianowski vs. Materla , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:38 ,

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

, Poland , , - , Loss , align=center, 1–1 , Marek Samociuk , TKO (punches) , KSW 60: De Fries vs. Narkun 2 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 0:27 ,

, Poland , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Quentin Domingos , TKO (leg injury) , KSW 54: Gamrot vs. Ziółkowski , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:22 ,

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, Poland ,

Personal life

Ugonoh also played a wrestling cameo in the Polish movie ''Afonia and the bees'' (2009) directed by

Jan Jakub Kolski Jan Jakub Kolski (born 29 January 1956) is a Polish film director, cinematographer, and writer. Early life and career Kolski was born in Wrocław, and comes from a family closely connected to cinema. His father, Roman Kolski, and his sister, Ewa ...

. He calls himself a "black Pole" and says that he proudly represents Poland on the international arena. He often jokes that when he looks into a mirror, he "doesn't know what happened", referring to his skin color as atypical for ethnic Poles, a

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

ethnic group. His sister, Osuenhe "Osi" Ugonoh, works as a professional

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

, and is known for winning Poland's 4th edition of ''

Top Model ''Top Model'', also called ''Next Top Model'', is a fashion-themed reality television show format produced in many countries throughout the world and seen in over 120 countries producing over 200 seasons (referred to as "cycles"). The show t ...

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series in 2014.

References

External links

*
Izuagbe Ugonoh
at Polish FilmWeb {{DEFAULTSORT:Ugonoh, Izu Boxers trained by Kevin Barry Polish male kickboxers Polish people of Nigerian descent 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Szczecin Martial artists from West Pomeranian Voivodeship Polish male boxers Sportspeople from Gdańsk Martial artists from Pomeranian Voivodeship Polish male mixed martial artists Heavyweight boxers Nigerian male boxers Nigerian male kickboxers Nigerian male mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing Mixed martial artists utilizing kickboxing 21st-century Polish sportsmen 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen