Poland's Izu Ugonoh signs with Haymon Boxing; Is he the next great heavyweight?

If you wanted to create the perfect heavyweight boxer from scratch, you might not need to look any further than Izuagbe "Izu" Ugonoh.

Never heard of him, you say. Well, stick around, you will.

Izu (E-zoo) is 6-foot-5 with an 84-inch reach that dwarfs Mike Tyson's 71-inch wingspan, and a rock-solid physique with Adonis-like 12-pack abs. He is unusual in many ways, not the least of which is being a black man born and raised in Poland to Nigerian parents, a 30-year-old who is fluent in English, his native Polish and Ivie, a Nigerian dialect, and can get by, he says, in Russian.

The big man is light on his feet, too, having appeared on the Polish version of Dancing With The Stars in February, training 35 hours a week for the 75-second dance routines. He made it through 8 of the 10 weeks, and says the experience greatly helped his footwork.

But can this heavyweight actually fight, you ask?

His record, and his trainer, scream yes. The former international kickboxing champion is 17-0 with 14 KOs, and is ranked No. 15 by the WBO. He has fought mostly in obscurity in Poland and New Zealand, where trainer Kevin Barry, and Ugonoh's training partner, rising star Joseph Parker, reside. Parker (21-0, 18 KOs) is fighting American Andy Ruiz Jr. (29-0, 19 KOs) for the vacant WBO heavyweight title on Dec. 10 ^th (HBO, 9:35 p.m. ET) in Auckland, New Zealand.

Barry calls Ugonoh the "sleeper" in the heavyweight division who has flown under the radar his entire career. But that could be about to end. Izu has signed with Haymon Boxing, it was announced Thursday, and is primed to take boxing's premier weight division by storm.

He's expected to make his American debut in March 2017.

"In January I will reunite with my coach in Las Vegas and start training and I would love to make my debut in the U.S.," Ugonoh told USA TODAY Sports by phone from Poland Wednesday.

Barry throws around superlatives when he speaks of his student, to whom he attributes much of Parker's success as his main training partner. Izu, says Barry, has consistently pushed the Kiwi to his physical limits over the last few years, while living with Barry and Parker during their training camps.

"Now it's Izu's time to create his own path that takes him to a world title," Barry said by phone Wednesday. "He's a very gifted fighter, a young man who's very intelligent, who learns very well. He studies the game. He takes to the part and understands it. Over the last two years his hand speed, his foot speed and his repertoire of skills have improved enormously."

Barry says Ugonoh has worked with former heavyweight champs Bermane Stiverne and Wladimir Klitschko, in addition to Parker.

"Izu is a guy whose double jab is as pretty as any heavyweight's in the world," says Barry, a former boxer and 1984 Olympic silver medalist from New Zealand. "His right hand has one-punch knockout power and that's been documented in several YouTube releases. There was one where he hit a guy down here in New Zealand who had never been stopped, and knocked him cold with a right hand and he was out for two minutes. He knocked him out of the ring; we have a dinner party at ringside and the guy hit someone's plate. It was spectacular.

"He has very, very hard hands. But if you ask me what his main strength is, he goes to the body as well as any heavyweight in the world. And if he hits you in the liver, it's good night."

Izu loves the body shots, making them the key to his attack.

Izu Ugonoh drops Ibrahim Labaran in 2015. (Photo by Fiona Goodall/photosport.nz)

"A lot of fighters can take head shots and keep going, but once you get hit with a body shot it takes a lot of steam out of you," Ugonoh said. "It's not a new thing, but I think when a lot of people get excited they start head-hunting. So I like to keep myself disciplined and keep going to the body. Errol Spence is one fighter I like to watch. He's a damaging fighter and does a lot of good work to the body. I observe the guys who do it best and try to reach that place."

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Izu was looking for a bigger challenge when he left a thriving kickboxing career behind for the Sweet Science. But even after his first professional boxing match, he flew to Azerbaijan, where he won the European Kickboxing Championship. "So at the beginning I still thought of myself as more of a kickboxer than a boxer," said Ugonoh, who has never fought as an amateur. "But that changed in time, and I became fully dedicated to my boxing career."

Growing up in Poland, Izu says, was anything but easy, being the only black kid around. Not surprisingly, he fought a lot as a youngster.

"Poland is a different country than it was back in the day," he says. "I was born in the times of communism in Poland, so it was a very closed place and people weren't exposed to other nationalities, other colors. Also because of the history of the country and all the oppression that has happened, it shaped peoples' mentality.

"So, yeah, it was pretty tough growing up in Poland. I was the only black kid in the neighborhood and the area, and I would say in the school, but I also had my sister. So there were two of us. But I was the boy and you know boys. I was always active, getting into fights for various reasons. When I look back, I'm grateful that I didn't hurt anyone and I didn't get hurt."

What also sets Izu apart from most other fighters is that he holds a masters degree from the School of Physical Education and Sports in Gdansk, despite describing himself as "never being a great student," but being self-taught.

"At some point in my life I focused on (my education) and disciplined myself to read books, and within three years I read 150 books," he said.

"I believe in the educational system, but also it's important that we educate ourselves. Especially now that we live in the era of information. It's all out there, you don't even need to go to the library to borrow books, you can do it from your house. I believe it's important to keep educating yourself and working on yourself. I like working on myself and growing. That's just part of who I am."

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Izu is excited about becoming part of Al Haymon's stable of boxers.

"I've got Haymon Boxing behind me and I believe that together we will be able to come up with something good, what I've been working for and what I've wanted," he says.

Barry compares Izu's tremendous reach to that of former heavyweight champion and Hall of Famer Lennox Lewis.

"He's got a phenomenal wingspan, and that is a real strength for us," Barry says. "We've worked on using those long arms to create the distance for him to set up his power shots.

"So I'm excited about this young guy, with his charisma and his looks. He's a model-looking guy with brains, charisma, personality, he can fight like hell and he can go to the body better than any heavyweight in the world."

The state of the heavyweight division these days excites Ugonoh as well, with unbeaten champions such as Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, and interim champ Luis Ortiz, along with former champion Tyson Fury, and even his training partner, Parker, in his sights.

"The heavyweight division is looking very, very good right now and there are a lot of fights to be made," Izu says. "A lot of fans will get what they want because the fighters are there.

"A lot of people say, I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that and I'm going to become a champion. But I will let my fights do the talking. Right now I'm just excited about being who I am and showing them what I've been working for. And I believe the fans will want to see more of Izu Ugonoh."

Barry could not agree more.

"We've spent the last two years working on his skills, developing him, and he's been destroying the people we've put in front of him," the trainer says. "It's time for us to step up to the real names of the heavyweight division. He deserves to be there."

Izu is not one to talk trash. He doesn't need to.

"I believe I'm going to be a world champion," he says confidently. "That's all you need to know."