One-Legged Fighter Takes Strong Stand : Controversy Replaces Motorcycle Accident as Threat to Craig Bodzianowski’s Career

On May 9, 1984, 25-year-old heavyweight boxer Craig Bodzianowski won his 13th consecutive fight with a unanimous decision over Francis Sargent, who was then 14-7.

A rematch was set up, which normally wouldn’t have generated much interest. But an unfortunate turn of events was to give Sargent a big edge this time around. Or so it would seem.

On May 31, 1984, Bodzianowski lost his right foot in a motorcycle accident near his home in the southwestern Chicago suburb of Tinley Park.

His foot might have been saved, but boxing then would have been part of his past. The injury would have required several operations, and Bodzianowski would probably still be layed up.

His doctor told him he could possibly get 85% of his mobility back after the amputation, with the fitting of a prosthesis, so Bodzianowski quickly opted for the seven-pound “Flex Foot.”

“Adios, cut it off,” he said when told of the options. Off it went, about nine inches below his knee.

Bodzianowski wanted to box, and he still entertains hopes of someday being champion, though his chances, not hopes, have diminished considerably.

Manager Jerry Lenza thought his fighter was through, at first.

“I was devastated,” he said. “But for Craig it was just the opposite. He never uttered one word of despair.

“All he wants to do is be champion, he needs to box.”

His one-legged quest toward that pinnacle began, though he knew it wouldn’t be easy.

“It was a year before I could wear the leg every day,” he said.

“I hopped two miles a day on one leg, and swam three miles a day before I could feel comfortable (with the artificial foot).”

He worked harder than ever before, bicycling 90 miles a week, jogging more than 10 miles a week, and swimming continually to improve his cardiovascular system.

Bodzianowski can now run close to a six-minute mile, and can run three miles every day without damage to the leg. He is stronger and more mobile than ever, according to Lenza.

“He moves around the ring better than before, and probably has about 95% of his mobility,” he said.

When Bodzianowski was finally ready to spar again last June, Lenza liked what he saw. In October, he told the Illinois State Athletic Commission that Bodzianowski was ready to make a comeback.

Naturally, there was opposition on the part of several members of the commission.

As board member James Lahey told Sports Illustrated: “I was against it on the broad principle of a person with one leg being in the sport of boxing.”

It took the opinions of four physicians to sway the board to grant Bodzianowski his license, which it did unanimously.

Dr. Michael Treister was quoted in Sports Illustrated as saying: “I didn’t have the least little worry about it. I would be much more concerned about a person who had a history of being knocked out three months before, or had two or three previous knockouts.”

So the comeback began, and Bodzianowski and his corner soon came to realize the assorted problems associated with fighting with one foot.

One such problem was that of lining up fights.

“Sure we have trouble lining up fights,” Lenza said. “We’re having problems because a lot of people don’t want to fight a guy that’s crippled.”

But the fact that Bodzianowski is crippled no longer worries Lenza.

“I think his handicap is not really a handicap,” he said. “It looks like his goals are within his reach.”

Sargent was the opponent in Bodzianowski’s first one-legged fight, 18 months after his accident.

After an uneventful first round, Bodzianowski plodded after Sargent in the second, caught him against the ropes and dropped him with two quick hooks to the head. Sargent didn’t get up, and Bodzianowski had 12 knockouts in 14 fights, and his first with one leg.

But something happened which hints at another problem which might plague Bodzianowski’s comeback, controversy.

Sargent claimed in an interview with Chicago Sun-Times boxing writer Lacy J. Banks that he had taken a dive because of death threats and racial insults he received before the fight.

“I threw the fight,” he was quoted as saying. “He did not hit me hard enough to knock me out. I quit.”

Bodzianowski discounted Sargent’s remarks and insisted he deserved credit for the win.

“I think he said it because he was insulted by losing to me or something like that,” he said. “I hit him with some good clean shots to drop him. I don’t know if he could’ve got up or not, and if he would’ve he was dead meat anyway.”

Sargent later changed his statement to the effect that he had blown the fight, not thrown it. Whatever the case, he agreed to a six-month suspension by the Illinois Department of Registration for making statements detrimental to boxing.

The question had been raised in Bodzianowski’s corner.

Who would want to fight this guy with one leg and how could one really win?

His second one-legged fight was in early April against former Indiana University running back Ric Enis .

Enis (14-8), hankering for a paycheck, didn’t have any doubts about getting into the ring against Bodzianowski, but afterward he felt an asterisk should go with Bodzianowski’s victory.

“I figured he was able to fight, and they (the commission) let him, so I didn’t have any doubts,” he said.

Enis had Bodzianowski on the ropes and seemingly about to go out in the third round; and when the referee stepped in, it looked as if he was about to stop the fight. Instead, he warned Enis about a low blow, pushed the two apart, and Bodzianowski quickly floored Enis with a powerful hook. Enis got up and Bodzianowski proceeded to knock him out.

Enis felt Bodzianowski had a little help from the referee.

“I was frustrated and upset because I thought they would stop the fight,” he said. “I looked at his corner and even they were yelling ‘stop the fight.’

“The ref kept pushing me away when I had him (Bodzianowski) on the ropes. I think he had a little help on his side.”

Lenza denied trying to stop the fight and replied it was Enis’ corner trying to stop it after he hit the canvas the first time.

Lenza and Bodzianowski discounted the cry from Enis, claiming that it’s part of Bodzianowski’s style to fight from the ropes now and then, and take a punch or two in order tire his opponent, though Lenza admited that “it was obvious Craig got rocked.”

“But he’s done that all along,” Lenza said. “He sometimes rolls along the ropes slipping punches. He’s what you would call a plodder. But he keeps coming, he’s not only a plodder, he can really bang.”

Bodzianowski finished Enis and said that any fighter who lets up before the fight is over deserves to lose.

“I would never let up on a fighter until the referee stopped the bout,” he said. “If he felt like letting up on me, that’s his mistake. I’ll lay up against the ropes and take shots like that and a fighter will think he has me, that’s just where experience took over.”

So Bodzianowski (15-0, 13 KOs), with a respectable ring record behind him (42-4 as an amateur, with losses to Carl (The Truth) Williams, LeRoy Murphy, and Don Lee twice, all heavyweights), has proven he can fight and his rubberized “Flex Foot” can withstand the rigors of the ring.

But just how far he can go may depend on the quality of his opposition.

What will happen when he gets into the ring with a top contender?

Can he compete with a highly ranked fighter? He thinks he can.

“People think I can’t get leverage on my right foot, but they’re wrong,” he said. “I still have the power, It’s (the artificial foot) just like my own.”

Maybe his future opponents will continue to question the outcome when they lose, and what will they have to say when they win?

That also remains to be seen.

Bodzianowski, who now fights as a cruiserweight, has two one-legged victories behind him, and is eager to prove himself further, whatever people say.

And he thinks the controversy will eventually subside.

“I can see it happening again,” he said.

So, rest assured, the boxing world hasn’t heard the end of Craig Bodzianowski, and similarly, Craig Bodzianowski probably hasn’t heard the end of controversy, but he’ll no doubt give it his best shot.