Anyway, Greenpoint was rather safe. Maybe once or twice someone pulled a knife. Some Poles couldn’t get along. But I liked the neighborhood.
My dad worked at the Syrena Bakery on Norman Avenue, and there were always lots of cookies in the house. As a child, I was overweight and had a Polish accent, and the kids laughed at me. I had to learn to ward them off and somehow cope.
My cousins advised me to go to the gym in Astoria because there wasn’t one in Greenpoint. I may have boxed with my cousins at the time, but only for fun. At the gym, I won some sparring, nothing serious, kind of like training.
When I was 14, my uncle said, for fun, “Do you want to box with me?” After my first punch, he fell into the closet. Then, I realized that I had a knack for the sport.
“Oh,” said my cousins, “You have something in those hands.”
I think in 10th grade, I went to train at a famous boxing gym in Brooklyn. It was Gleason’s Gym. And there were serious trainers there.
You’d see in movies that criminals would come to the gyms, and the trainers were gang bosses. You’d hear stories about how someone wanted to make a quick buck and got screwed by bad guys. But I didn’t see that because I was only focused on sports. I stayed far away from the street.
Anyway, Greenpoint was rather safe. Maybe once or twice someone pulled a knife. Some Poles couldn’t get along. But I liked the neighborhood.
I came to America as soon as I finished kindergarten when I was six or seven. My parents drew a Green Card, and my dad went for three months to see if he would find his way in America. He had a lot of stress, but Łomża and the towns near Łomża that I knew were a different place than today. There was nothing to do there. My dad was a baker, and my mother helped in the fields on the allotment.
Our aunt was already living in Greenpoint. And she said, “Come.” So Dad said that for his family, meaning his wife and three sons, because there were three of us, it would be better in “this America.”
Dad first worked in this bakery, and then, because of the earnings, he went to work in construction, like everyone else. Mom cleaned apartments, like every woman in those days. Then, she started taking care of elderly people.
It was hard because I didn’t know English. But when you’re a kid, you learn fast because you watch cartoons on TV. And you learn how to survive in a city, even if it’s two hundred times bigger than Łomża. I first went to school PS34, where there were a lot of Poles. From 7th grade, I took the train alone to another school. My parents transferred me to a school in Williamsburg, which had more city programs. In Williamsburg, they decided to match white children to one of the schools that had too many black children. And my parents sent me to it. Then I went to La Guardia College.
When I was 11 years old, I saw a fight involving Andrzej Golota, a Polish heavyweight fighter. When I watched him, I understood that it was possible to be Polish and have a great career. I saw how people watched his fights, how happy they were that he was winning. Emotions were very high, and I wanted that too.
I was 17 when I won the Golden Gloves tournament for the first time in New York. The second time I won was when I was 19. No Pole had ever accomplished that.
Even then, they called me “Babyface.” Apparently, when you look at me, you can see a baby’s face.
Golden Gloves opened the door to big-time boxing for me. I realized that I could do something there.
Success in sports brings temptations, but I was able to master them. My older cousins helped me. They didn’t let me go down the wrong path. Today, they are developing their businesses in the construction industry.
In 2009, I turned professional. My greatest success was winning the IBF world heavyweight championship.
I associate Greenpoint with my childhood, and I always return to Greenpoint when I visit New York. I go for steaks at the Amber Steak House, the Pierożek Restaurant, and the Charlotte Patisserie.
