The boxing league is coming back to Poland. This is how much money each of the eight clubs needs
It's been a long time since we've seen such a crowd at a boxing press conference in Warsaw as during Friday's meeting at Torwar, called by the Polish Boxing Association. The room on the second floor was bursting at the seams. And although it's true that a large part of it was occupied by boxers, coaches and officials of the 8 teams that will start competing in the Polish Boxing League in mid-March, there was no shortage of media people either.
The official announcement that team competitions in national boxing competitions will be resumed was announced for Friday. And although various attempts were made to revive the league between 2005 and 2024, in short it can be summed up that it is returning after 21 years. The first Polish champions were in 1927 boxers from Warta Poznań, and the last ones to date were players from Hetman Białystok (2004).
Challenge for Durkacz– When I took over as the president of the Polish Boxing Association, I had two dreams. The first one was to win an Olympic medal, which came true last year thanks to Julia Szeremeta. The second one, the establishment of the Polish Boxing League, is being realized today – rejoiced Grzegorz Nowaczek, who is the head of the national federation for the second term, while speaking at the conference.
For now, the main partner of the PLB is the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, and individual sponsors of the games are to be announced successively. The most interesting match in each round will be broadcast on TVP Sport.
– I would like to thank the president and everyone who contributed to the creation of this league. I am happy and I keep my fingers crossed because we really need boxing not only as a sport, but also as an element of education, teaching respect, culture and the philosophy of competition, fighting in a noble way – said Sławomir Nitras, head of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, who was present at the meeting.
- And after the silver in Paris, the goal of Polish boxing should be three medals in Los Angeles. At least one of them is a men's medal, right, Mr. Damian? - the minister asked the two-time Olympian, 26-year-old Damian Durkacz, who was sitting next to him. In the PLB, he will be representing the colors of Concordia Knurów, where he is a trainee, together with his long-time trainer Ireneusz Przywara.
Professionals also for PLBEven before the line-ups are announced (the clubs are to announce them by the end of the month), it is said that the favourites for the revived competition will be the boxers from Legia Warsaw, who have in their ranks, for example, the world youth heavyweight vice-champion (2021) Jakub Straszewski, as well as the Kielce team Rushh, which will be represented by, among others , Paweł Brach, who has a few professional fights under his belt.
The Golden Team Nowy Sącz team is also counting on boxers experienced in non-Olympic rings. Michał Bołoz, who knocked out Andrzej Wawrzyk in 2022, as well as Krzysztof Twardowski and Kacper Salabura, are expected to join it. Michał Jarliński (Boxing Team Toruń), Jakub Krzpiet (Imperium Boxing Wałbrzych) and Michał Akoto-Ampaw (Wisłok Rzeszów) may also prove to be potential leaders of their teams.
In turn, the strength of the team from Ciechocinek is to be provided by players from Szczecin's Skorpion, for years one of the strongest teams in Poland, although this club is not in the PLB.
Find over half a millionThe computer machine drawing the match schedule was set in motion by Olympic medalists Krzysztof Kosedowski (bronze 1980) and the aforementioned Julia Szeremeta. It soon turned out that in the inaugural PLB clash, the capital Legia would host the guests from Wałbrzych in Bemowo (Saturday, March 15, 8:00 p.m., broadcast on TVP Sport), while the three remaining matches of the 1st round would take place the following day.
The Polish Champion is to be crowned in December after 14 matches (round robin system – 7 home and 7 away matches). In total, the PLB competition will include 56 matches in 2025 (14 rounds of four matches).
Each match will include 9 fights in weight categories in line with those in force in the World Boxing Federation (55 kg, 60 kg, 65 kg, 70 kg, 75 kg, 80 kg, 85 kg, 90 kg and +90 kg; the 50 kg category has been omitted). Two foreigners may enter the fight, and clubs will be encouraged by the Polish Boxing Association to include two women's fights in the event's program (of course, they will not count towards the match result).
Unofficially, it is known that the annual budget of the team that will take part in the PLB should amount to about PLN 600,000, and the optimal amount for the club would be PLN 800,000.
- We consider the Polish Boxing League as a long-term project and as managers of the competition we understand that clubs, at least at the beginning, may not be able to bear the financial burden if they do not receive support from PZB. That is why we intend to support each team in a system of cyclical payments - says Maciej Demel, vice-president of PZB.
And how to avoid the problem that spoiled league spectacles in the past, which was that even before the match was played, it was very likely that the home team would win? – 56 matches are a serious financial challenge, also in terms of refereeing. PZB, as the league headquarters, wants to take on this burden. Also to limit the contacts between clubs and referees to a minimum – informs Demel.
Destination BrazilThe second important point of the conference was the official confirmation of what the president of World Boxing, Dutchman Boris van der Vorst, had already said during his recent visit to Poland . Namely, our flagship tournament, the memorial of the legendary Feliks Stamm (11–16 May, Torwar in Warsaw), will receive the rank of a World Cup competition. It is worth emphasizing that apart from Poland, only Brazil (turn of March and April), Kazakhstan (June/July) and India (November) will organize such an event this year.
The Polish national teams – Tomasz Dylak's women's and Grzegorz Proksa's men's – are to participate in all of these competitions, because good performances will determine the seeding in the first World Boxing Senior World Championships (September 4–14, Liverpool). Before the teams fly to Brazil, the men will take part in an international tournament in Tampere, Finland (March 7–9), and the women – headed by Szeremeta – in Debrecen, Hungary (March 11–15).
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21 TITLES of the Polish champion were won by boxers from Warsaw's CWKS and Legia (between 1952 and 1986). The Warsaw team is among the favorites of the Polish Boxing League 2025.
PLN 10.5 million is the total amount of PZB financing from the Ministry of Sport and Tourism for 2025, although boxing is still not officially certain of Olympic status for the 2028 games. This is 30 percent more than last year (PLN 6.8 million).
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POLISH BOXING LEAGUE – 1ST ROUND
[15.03] KB Legia Warsaw – Imperium Boxing Wałbrzych (20.00, TVP Sport)
[16.03] Kielce Boxing Club Rushh – Golden Team Nowy Sącz
[16.03] Concordia Knurów – Boxing Team Toruń
[16.03] CKB Powerfully Ciechocinek – Wisłok Rzeszów
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