Mateusz Masternak

Mateusz Masternak (born 2 May 1987 in Iwaniska, Poland) is a Polish professional boxer fighting in the Cruiserweight division. He is a former EBU (European) Cruiserweight champion.

Masternak had been living in Iwaniska until he finished primary school and junior high school. He started training boxing at the KSZO Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski club. At the age of 15 he moved to Wrocław where he started training at the Gwardia Wrocław club.

His first coaches in Gwardia were Mariusz Cieślak and Grzegorz Strugała. At the same time, Masternak joined Primary School No. 19 in Wrocław. His crucial year in amateur boxing was 2005, when he became the junior champion of Poland in Middleweight (75 kg). After the success he joined the national junior team.

His first fight in the national team took place in Tallinn during Junior Championship of Europe. Masternak was defeated in the quarter-final. In the same season, a young Pole won bronze medal during Championship of Poland. In the next year he was second. Until that moment his amateur record looked great: 61 wins in 70 fights.

In March 2006 Masternak decided to become a professional fighter. His first four professional battles took place in the USA. However, financial problems of his promoter made him come back to Poland.

In May 2007 he signed a contract with new professional group - CENG AG. Masternak participated in the boxing show Perfect Boxing at Spodek Hall in Katowice and defeated Anton Krasnolutsky by technical knockout in the fourth round.

On 3 October Masternak won the WBC Youth Cruiserweight title. During the boxing show in Lublin he defeated Alex Mogylewski from Ukraine, knocking him out in the round of five.

During Polsat Boxing Night in Łódź, organised on 24 October 2009, Masternak defeated another Polish Cruiserweight Łukasz Janik by technical knockout. Masternak dropped the opponent in the first round and in the fifth one. Janik managed to stand on his feet but the referee reasonably decided to stop the clash. The main event of the evening was a clash between Andrew Golota and Tomasz Adamek which was promoted as "Polish Fight of the Century".

Masternak's first WBC title defence took place on 19 December 2009 in Radom. Masternak won by RTD in the seventh round of the bout, defeating Jameson Bostic. Masternak's second and third defences finished with technical knockouts.

On March 6 in Katowice, the Pole's fight was the main event of the Diamond Boxing Night at Spodek Hall in Katowice, organised by Andrzej Grajewski. Masternak finished Faisal Ibnel Arrami in the round of eight, winning by technical knockout. The uneven bout was stopped by the corner of "African King". After the seventh round, all three judges scored 70:63 for the Pole, which means that "Master" was better in each round.

Three months later, on 19 June in Kielce, Masternak beat Lewan Jomardashvili, previously undefeated. The Polish cruiserweight was exerting pressure on the Georgian rival from the first bell. In the fourth round, after series of Masternak's accurate hooks, Jomardashvili was dropped on the canvas two times. In the fifth one, the referee Grzegorz Molenda stopped the contest.

On 5 November 2010, Masternak defeated Ismail Abdoul by unanimous decision.