Growing up in the Chicago area, with a name like Zbikowski, the odds are pretty good you would be a boxer or a football player. Tommy Zbikowski is both. Last month, he was named defensive captain for Notre Dame, where he was a third-team All-America safety. June 10, Zbikowski turns to his other love – as a heavyweight making his professional debut at Madison Square Garden on the undercard of the WBO junior welterweight championship bout between Miguel Cotto and Paulie Malignaggi. Recently, the 21-year-old chatted about dishing out and taking the hits in two very different venues.
Anthony Cotton: Why boxing?
Tommy Zbikowski: I was probably in the gym when I was 4 years old. My father was kind of a fight fan. I would get kind of beat up by my older brother. I remember thinking I was a southpaw because my father was, and I was just trying to copy what he was doing in the gym. I was hooked, but I never really thought about fighting. I’d just kind of watch it on TV.
AC: I know you did Golden Gloves, but isn’t it quite a leap from that to what you’re about to do?
TZ: I’ve had 80 amateur fights, so it’s not like I don’t have any experience fighting. It’s got to be someone’s first fight at some time anyway, so this is my opportunity.
AC: Where do you see this going? I would think at some point there would be a conflict between a boxing career and one in football.
TZ: It’s a tough choice, but really I’m just focusing on this fight. Once that’s over with, I have to go back to my team and trying to win a national championship. That’s where all my thoughts are right now.
AC: How does (Notre Dame coach Charlie) Weis feel about all of this? We’re really not that far from football training camp.
TZ: The fight is June 10, and I have to be back at school on June 19 for summer conditioning. He’s excited for me. I love the support I’m getting at Notre Dame, from everyone in the compliance office sorting through what I need to get accomplished to stay eligible, to Coach Weis and the rest of the staff saying they’ll be watching and allowing me to do this.
AC: We’ve seen a lot of compliance and eligibility issues with (former University of Colorado football player and Olympic skier) Jeremy Bloom. Where’s the difference between what he went through and what you’re doing?
TZ: The compliance people have laid out what I can and can’t do. Really, they’ve made it a lot easier for me just to concentrate on the fight and my training. My mom and dad work with them about what’s legal and what’s not, and I have an attorney, Mike Joyce. They all work together to make it easy for me.
AC: Are the disciplines of boxing and football similar?
TZ: I’ve always used both to help each other out. The footwork I have to do as a defensive back has helped me out as a boxer. My trainer has always taken advantage of that and helped implement it into my fight plans, using my feet and agility. They’re both very similar, but different muscles are being used for punching rather than running and tackling.
AC: The public has the idea of football players being pretty tough guys. What percentage of them could get into the ring and be successful?
TZ: That’s hard to say, really. I think there’s a little difference in toughness. In boxing, you have to have the mental toughness to be able to handle working late in rounds when you can’t breathe and you have to pull something out of you. In football you go through a lot of physical aches and pains. It’s a long season. You have to be a great athlete in both. Boxers may be a little smaller overall than football players.
AC: When was the last time you were in a fight that wasn’t in a boxing ring?
TZ: Ahhhh…man. It was pretty recent, but I’m going to keep that off the record. We’ll say it was when I was in grade school.
AC: I guess we don’t want coaches or compliance officers hearing about that one.
TZ: Yeah, I got away with that one. We shouldn’t be putting it in the media.
AC: How about this one – have the hardest hits you’ve taken been on the football field or in the ring?
TZ: Probably the ring. When you get caught with an uppercut and your mouth’s a little open, you bite your lip and your mouthpiece comes out and your jaw feels like you can’t move it for two weeks. That’s a little more painful than getting the wind knocked out of you in football. But then you look at some of the hits that some people take in football, their knees being completely blown out. Injuries in boxing are a little more shocking, but they don’t last as long as having ACL surgery. And in boxing, you know where the punch is coming from, you see your opponent. In football, you’ve got 21 other guys flying around the field at full speed. You don’t know where you’re going to get hit from.
AC: You did some of your fight training at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami, a legendary boxing spot.
TZ: It was unbelievable, having a press conference and doing a workout there. Being there with Angelo Dundee and Bob Arum, my father and my trainer, having all of them to share it with was special. Not too many people can say they’ve done that.
AC: Tell me about Dundee. When you talk about trainers, that is it.
TZ: Yeah, you’re working with a legend. Anything he says, you have to be like a sponge and take everything in.
AC: What sort of stories does he tell?
TZ: He brings Muhammad Ali up quite a bit, what he used to do, what used to work for him. I’m eating it all up, taking it all in. I’m training and working hard, but I’m enjoying this opportunity. I have a picture with him from when I was 11, and we showed it to him. He got a good laugh out of that.
AC: Is Notre Dame looking at the national championship this year?
TZ: A lot of people are putting us up there, but we set the bar pretty high last year. The entire team wants to attain the national championship. But the most important game is (the season opener) against Georgia Tech. If we don’t get that one, we got nothin’.
Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
