By S. Noble

22.10 - On the 22nd of October boxing fans will get the chance to see a card stacked with some fascinating matches. While some Polish athletes may have struggled over the summer (most noticeably the football team), Polish boxing continued to develop into a major sport. The show in Sopot should help this process as it contains not only established stars but also some interesting young prospects.

The most widely known fighter on the bill has to be Agnieszka Rylik. The Polish world champion has continued to dominate her weight division stopping her last two opponents. Rylik has yet to fall into the trap of becoming a complacent champion and will doubtless be at the top of her game. Coupled with her big fight experience this will undoubtedly give her the edge against Borislava Goranova, particularly with the home support behind her.

Elsewhere on the card Sergei Marchuk looks to bounce back from a disappointing defeat in his last fight, with ten rounds at superwelterweight against Monney Seka of France. Marchuk is an all or nothing fighter, who is capable of getting off the floor and winning. Both Marchuk and Seka posses real power and the fight is unlikely to go the distance. It may be scheduled for ten, but the spectators are likely to get their money's worth inside that distance.

The dependable Polish lightweight Dariusz Snarski takes on another Frenchman, Christophe De Busillet. Snarski lacks power, but has the skills and chin to test any fighter. His gallant loss to the heavy handed Alex Arthur showed that he may be heading towards the veteran class, but there is no shortage of heart. Fans will also get the chance to see talented French flyweight Mimoun Chent who another small man with a big heart as well as some young Polish fighters like Marcin Radola, Wlodek Kopec and Dariusz Sierpinski. The one that is certain is that the crowd will have been treated to a real boxing show, with some tough fighters putting their pride and their reputations on the line.

Albert Rybacki: The Quiet Man vs. "The Warrior"

It is an accepted fact that a fighter has courage, as no one who is prepared to put their body on the line in the boxing ring can be called a coward. On the twenty sixth of October a fighter will enter the ring in Maesteg who has proved himself outside the ring as well as inside it. Often those words are used to describe reformed street fighters or criminals who have given up their violent past in order to try and forge a career in the ring.

For Albert Rybacki though, the testing ground was war torn former Yugoslavia. As a serving Polish paratrooper Rybacki was decorated for his bravery while in that unfortunate country. Not that you'll hear much about it from this fighter. Rybacki is on record as saying "I didn't join the armed forces in order to boast about it later". Rybacki is unusual among professional boxers in that the fame that comes with success doesn't seem to interest him. For him boxing is about the personal challenge
In contrast his opponent Tony Dodson has the nickname "The Warrior", but this is due to his fighting style rather than a distinguished service record. Although Rybacki is the unbeaten fighter of the two, Dodson has had more fights. While Dodson is a battler, Rybacki is a boxer. Both though, posses knockout power. All this adds up to an intriguing contest between the man from Katowice and the Liverpudlian fighter. The question is, will the man who doesn't like to draw attention to his achievements be celebrating another quiet triumph.