Wolak: The Real Life Rocky

Las Vegas, Nev.–Meet PAWEL WOLAK, the real-lifeRocky. He’s a tough, no-nonsense guy from New Jersey who balances life as a construction worker with life as a prize fighter. He doesn’t ask for favors. He doesn’t need them. Like his fictional counterpart, all he wants is a shot to prove himself. And he’s finally got it.

On March 12^th, the 29-year-old middleweight will take on former champ YURI FOREMAN on the “Relentless” undercard here at the MGM Grand. It’s the fight of his life, and he’s not taking it lightly.

“I’m gonna have more of a will to win,” he said. “I think I’m gonna out will him.”

Easier said than done, of course. Foreman has a strong will, as he showed when he defended his title against Puerto Rican superstar Miguel Cotto. (Coincidentally, Cotto is now defending that belt for the first time against Ricardo Mayorga in the headlining bout March 12.) Foreman fought with one leg for most of the match, hopping around in a valiant but ultimately losing attempt.

Wolak showed a similar level of heart in his last fight on Dec. 4 against Jose Pinzon in Anaheim, Calif. After a close opening round, Pinzon knocked Wolak down in the second. It appeared Wolak was on his way to having a bad night.

 

“I got knocked out very early,” recounted Wolak. “When I got up, it was 2:30 left. I was hurt. I’m not gonna lie. I didn’t see the punch. I’ve never really been hurt in a fight, except this one.”

“I knew I had to survive the round. I had to be smart,” he went on. “I didn’t want him to catch me again. And then I started picking my shots. I started really putting a lot of pressure on him. For what he did to me, I had to get him back.”

In the seventh, Wolak’s relentlessness and power finally got to Pinzon. As Dan Rafael recounted: “… Wolak uncorked a flush right hand to Pinzon’s face. He was basically out on his feet from the punch and fell into Wolak to hold on.

“He was badly hurt and probably would have fallen face first to the floor had Wolak taken a step to the side,” he went on. “Referee Jack Reiss could see that and was on the money with his stoppage at 2 minutes, 24 seconds.”

That win set Wolak up for the fight of his life. But despite his increasing success, he still maintains a day job as a construction worker. “We do schools most of the year,” he said. “So I go to the gym earlier.”

His schedule takes its toll. “The thing for me, I drive a lot,” Wolak said. “It takes me about three hours a day. It’s hard, man. I do a physical job.”

Indeed, the job is apparently so difficult that he had more to say about its hardships than those of boxing. “Personally, I can go through almost anything. But there’s times on the job when I’m about to go home, because it’s too effing cold. Your hands don’t work, your fingers are numb. It’s insane. That’s like going toe-to-toe with somebody in the eighth, ninth round. That’s the same thing,” he said.

 

To overcome Foreman, Wolak will have to muster the strength and determination it takes to power through one of those frigid Jersey days at the construction site. “Conditioning-wise, I’m gonna be better,” he said. “I’m gonna put so much pressure on that a lot of guys facing my style have problems with it. A lot of guys just give.

“There’s nothing pretty to what I do,” Wolak continued. “Me and my trainer talk about this all the time. You’re not the fastest guy. You’re not the most flashy guy. But what you do is you work and work and work and you break guys down. And that’s what I do in the ring. I’m eventually gonna get you.”

Translation: “I’m not gonna box YURI FOREMAN,” Wolak said. “That’s impossible. I gotta take him out of his style. I wanna make him do things that he’s not used to. I wanna make him fight. I think if I put the right pressure on him, cutting off the ring, not letting him breathe, he’s gotta give.”

And if Wolak wins? “People will know me after this fight. This is my shot to actually be something in boxing.”