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Tamas “Tomi
Kid” Kovacs, from
Galanta in Slovakia where he was
born in June of 1977, is the son
of Pavol Kovacs, a former
national amateur champion of
what was then known as
Czechoslovakia.
After a successful amateur
career with more than 200 bouts,
representing his country all
over the world, Kovacs turned
professional at the late age of
30 in 2008, winning in relative
obscurity at the Krudy Gyula
Gymnasium in Gyor, Hungary.
Signed to a Hungarian manager,
Kovacs would fight in both
Slovakia and Hungary, but it was
in his home-town he won his
first ten-rounder, in May of
2009, defeating decent Hungarian
Zoltan Kiss Jr, (13-6-3),
bringing his record to 9-0 (5)
just over a year after entering
the paid curcuit.
In his next four bouts, Kovacs
would defeat undefeated
opponents in all. Granted, two
of them were debutants, but
stopping Norbert Nagy (3-0) in
three rounds, and Zoltan Czekus
(7-0-1) in six, were good
results.
On October 24, 2009 at the
Anhalt Arena in Dessau, Germany,
Kovacs won the vacant World
Boxing Federation (WBF)
International Light Heavyweight
title, with a third round
elimination of Gyula Gaspar
(7-4-1), who brought a mediocre
record but had won his last six
outings.
Promoted by 2009 WBF Promoter of
the Year Ulf Steinforth, the
fight was part of a WBF
Championship triple-header, with
Frans Botha vs. Pedro Carrion
(World Heavyweight) and Kreshnik
Quato vs. Fabio Liggieri (World
Middleweight) the two co-main
events.
Now 14-0 (10), Kovacs was
stepped up further in his next
fight, as he was matched with
skilled and hard-punching Kenyan
Samson “The Hammer” Onyango
(19-4), who had competed at a
far higher level than Kovacs.
On the line was the vacant WBF
World Light Heavyweight title,
with a loud and enthusiastic
crowd backing the home-man at
the Galanta Sports Hall.
Onyango gave Kovacs plenty to
think about throughout, but
Kovacs was the busier man in
most rounds, and deservedly won
a unanimous decision with scores
of 116-114, 117-112 and 117-112
to become the new WBF World
Champion.
Unfortunately Kovacs would never
defend the WBF World title. Due
to various complications he was
eventually stripped of the
title, but continued to defeat
decent opponents such as Hamza
Wandera (12-1-2) for the WBO
European title. Yes, an African
opponent for a European title…
(!)
In 2013 he landed a shot at the
WBA and IBA World Light
Heavyweight titles, on a show
promoted by Golden Boy
Promotions at the Alamodome in
San Antonio, Texas, USA,
headlined by Marcos Maidana vs.
Adrien Broner.
In the opposite corner stood
Beibut Shumenov (13-1), from
Kazakhstan but based in Las
Vegas, and it quickly became
clear that it was not going to
be Kovacs day. He suffered a
knockdown in the first round,
and never really recovered
before getting floored again in
the second and stopped in the
third.
Experiencing his first defeat
prompted Kovacs to move up to
Cruiserweight in search of glory
at a higher weight. In his first
fight back, he stopped 1992
Olympic Bronze
medalist-turned-journeyman
Zoltan Beres (44-49-3), lining
up a fight for the vacant WBF
International Cruiserweight
title in October of 2014.
Hamza Wandera (now 18-7-3), whom
Kovacs had narrowly beaten by
split decision three-and-a-half
years earlier, was brought in
for a deserved rematch. This
time he had less trouble with
the Ugandan, winning by wide
unanimous decision to claim his
third WBF belt.
Instead of building towards a
crack at a Cruiserweight world
title, Kovacs decided to make
his way back towards Light
Heavyweight. He won two
low-profile bouts in 2015, but
then suffered a shock defeat to
Georgian Giorgi Beroshvili
(6-12-2), and decided to retire
soon after.
His final record 27-2 (16),
Tamas Kovacs now uses his fame
as one of the most successful
professional boxers of all time
from Slovakia to help other
people, especially youth,
through various projects that
involves boxing.
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