Izu Ugonoh

Early life

Izuagbe was born to Nigerian parents in the Polish city of Szczecin. He graduated from the Jędrzej Śniadecki University School of Physical Educations and Sport in Gdańsk.

Kickboxing career

He trained kick boxing at Gdańsk club GKSK Corpus. Due to his similarity in appearance and fighting style he is sometimes called the Polish Remy Bonjasky. He has also been inspired by Gökhan Saki.

In 2009, in the Austrian city of Villach, he won the Kickboxing World Championships gold medal in K-1 Rules to 91 kg, defeating Vladimir Mineev. In 2010, he became European champion in the same formula in Baku. He met the local Zamig Athakishiyev in the final.

Professional boxing career

Early career

On 16 October 2010, he made his professional debut as a boxer in Legionowo, beating Igoris Papunia from Lithuania 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. 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 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 on the under card of Deontay Wilder 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. This was the last fight Ugonoh fought under his trainer Kevin Barry.

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
  • interim Oceania heavyweight title
• World Boxing Organization
  • interim Africa heavyweight title
  • Africa heavyweight title
• International Boxing Federation
  • Mediterranean heavyweight title

Professional boxing record

|ko-wins=15 |ko-losses=2 |dec-wins=3 |dq-wins= |dq-losses=

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. 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

| ko-wins= 1 | sub-wins= | dec-wins= | ko-losses= 2 | sub-losses= | dec-losses= | dq-wins= | dq-losses= | other-wins=

| |Łódź, Poland | |- |Loss |Marek Samociuk |TKO (punches) |KSW 60: De Fries vs. Narkun 2 | |Łódź, Poland | |- |Win |Quentin Domingos |TKO (leg injury) |KSW 54: Gamrot vs. Ziółkowski | |Warsaw, Poland |

Personal life

Ugonoh also played a wrestling cameo in the Polish movie Afonia and the bees (2009) directed by Jan Jakub Kolski.

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 ethnic group.

His sister, Osuenhe "Osi" Ugonoh, works as a professional model, and is known for winning Poland's 4th edition of Top Model reality television series in 2014.

References

References

1. (January 2020). "World Light Contact, Low Kick, K -1 Villach, Austria 19-26.10.2009 Rules". Polish Association of Kickboxing.
2. (November 2010). "Bałanda and European champions Ugonoh". trojmiasto.pl.
3. "Description of the championship fights Izu website GKSK Corpus". gkskcorpus.pl.
4. "Impressive victory 'Izu' in debut". ringpolska.pl.
5. DUNCAN JOHNSTONE. "Boxer Izuagbe Ugonoh wants Pole position". Stuff NZ.
6. DUNCAN JOHNSTONE. "New Zealand heavyweight boxer Joseph Parker takes his fitness to a new level". Stuff NZ.
7. Patrick McKendry. "Boxing: Parker too powerful for Pettaway". New Zealand Herald.
8. George Heagney. "Joseph Parker knocks out opponent Yakup Saglam in two rounds in Palmerston North". Stuff NZ.
9. Logan Savory. "Novice boxer Kaleni Taetuli floors Brown Buttabean to earn knockout bonus". Stuff NZ.
10. Duncan Johnstone. "Willis Meehan wins in controversial one-sided boxing bout". Stuff NZ.
11. "Video highlights: Ugonoh drops Sandez for KO win - Fight for Life". Newshub.
12. Chris Barclay. "Christchurch's Bowyn Morgan suffers first professional boxing defeat". Stuff NZ.
13. "New Zealand heavyweight boxer Joseph Parker up to No 5 in WBO rankings". Stuff NZ.
14. DUNCAN JOHNSTONE. "Joseph Parker's stablemate Izu Ugonoh leaves for his own challenge". Stuff NZ.
15. BRYCE WILSON. (5 December 2016). "Izu Ugonoh Explains His Decision To Sign on With Al Haymon". Boxing Scene.
16. "Breazeale vs Ugonoh - News, Tape, Ringwalk, TV, Streaming & Tickets".
17. "WBO February 2017 rankings".
18. (30 November 2017). "IBF January 2017 rankings".
19. "BoxRec: Login".
20. Tudor Leonte. (July 12, 2020). "KSW Signs Former Pro Boxing Heavyweight Champion Izu Ugonoh". sherdog.com.
21. (21 March 2021). "Izu Ugonoh - Thomas Narmo: Pierwsze spotkanie twarzą w twarz".
22. (6 April 2021). "KSW 60: Izu Ugonoh with a new rival. Thomas Narmo injury".
23. (20 April 2021). "Zwycięzca turnieju walk na gołe pięści nowym rywalem Izu Ugonoha na KSW 60 {{!}} MMAROCKS".
24. Staff. (2021-04-24). "KSW 60: De Fries vs. Narkun Results".
25. (28 May 2022). "KSW 70: Samociuk pokonał Ugonoha po raz drugi".
26. Sherdog.com. "IZUAGBE".
27. (24 March 2010). "Ugonoh: Z dumą reprezentuję Polskę". sport.dziennik.pl.
28. (2014-11-24). "Osi Ugonoh wygrała 4. edycję "Top Model"!".