Sometimes the road from first training to championship is really long, bumpy and full of mud. Antoni Załęski, known in the United States as Tony Zale, took such a path to climb to the top of the fistfighting world.

1911: Józef and Katarzyna Załęski decide to leave their hometown of Mokra, a village near Stary Sącz, to try their luck across the Atlantic. They settle in Gary, a city in the Chicago metropolitan area, which is the largest Polish community on the American continent. However, they did not stay there long. There, on 29 May 1913, their next child, Antoni Florian Załęski, was born.

The head of the family, Józef, finds work at the local steelworks. The family's existence improves month by month. However, everything is interrupted by a great tragedy. When Antoni is two years old, his father is killed in a car accident while on his way to collect medicine for his sick son. Afterwards, Antoni feels responsible for his father's death. To those events, he attributes his great shyness. The burden of supporting the family from day to day therefore falls on the shoulders of his mother and eldest sons.

A talent on which they wanted to make money
A few years after his father's death, young Antek goes off to school and - like his siblings - to work. He has to reconcile his school duties with his professional ones. Together with his brother Jan, he finds a job at a steelworks. But he manages. In fact, he even finds time for sport. He starts boxing training at the YMCA. Although, according to some accounts, he first appears at a gymnastics practice of the "Sokół", of which his older brother was a member. Because Polish ancestry is nurtured in the family. The Załęskis are bilingual. At home, they communicate in the language of their ancestors.

The trainers immediately notice the youngster's immense talent and unparalleled resistance to blows. In 1931, they put him in the prestigious Golden Gloves state tournament, in which Załęski confidently wins. A year later, he reached the national final of this event, only to lose in the final bout. He continued boxing amateurishly until 1934. He has a miraculous record of 95 fights - 87 wins and 8 losses. Fifty of them ending before time.

Skilful, fast and uncommonly punch-resistant, the youngster, who would become known as "The Man of Steel", set off to conquer the professional ring. In 1934, he quit his job at the steelworks. The prospect of a good salary and fame help him make his decision. He adopts a new ring name, which in a few years' time America's fist fighter will fall in love with - Tony Zale. The procedure is intentional, as it is difficult for the American public to pronounce his Polish name and surname correctly.

Life, however, writes its scripts. Tony puts his fate in the hands of his first manager. However, this turns out to be an evil and greedy man. Instead of polishing the diamond, his actions destroy it. Why?

Załęski's trainer organises 21 fights for him between June and December 1934! The fist fighter fights practically every week, something that everyone - even the hardest organism - is unable to withstand. While others were counting their profits, he was about to part with the ring. And the decision was finally made. In 1935, he decided to give boxing a rest. He returned to his former occupation at the steelworks.

The best "middleweight" in the world
After two years, he gets an offer to return from a pair of well-known managers: Sam Pian and Art Winch. The men promise him sensible career planning and big fights. Antoni - the son of Polish emigrants in love with boxing - accepts the offer. Four years of intensive training, experience-building fights eventually lead to a meeting with Al Hostak - the middleweight champion of the world. Ton's wily managers organise the first fight between the two men, only it is a sparring match. They want to see how their protégé will cope with such a strong opponent. For the Czech of origin is famous for his hell of a punch. But for Zale, this is a chance to make a name for himself in the wide world of boxing.

On 29 January 1940, Antoni Załęski a.k.a. Tony Zale stands in the ring with the knockout king (14 fights in a row finished by K.O.) Al Hostak. And he causes quite a sensation. He wins despite falling to the boards twice. Fans fall in love with his relentless style. Six months later, another confrontation between the two fighters takes place. This time, the championship title is at stake. Załęski is superbly conditioned. He scores the champion until the 13th round, when the defeated Hostak is sent to the corner. A few years later, Przegląd Sportowy wrote the following about this clash:

"The Czech proved that he has a powerful punch. His left hook sent Załęski to the floor already in the 1st round and until the bell he bombed him without rest. However, it was not for nothing that Załęski worked in the steelworks. He hardened himself there and his body seemed to be permeated with steel. He was tough to the human limit. He evened out the fight in the following rounds, and by the end Hoatak was just a punching bag for the Pole."

Immigrant trilogy
Zale's boxing career is put on hold for five years. The United States enters World War II and he volunteers to join the navy. A month earlier, he still decides to marry Adalina Richwalska. He then becomes a sports instructor for the soldiers.

The war comes to an end. Tony doesn't lose the fisting bug. He decides to return to the ring. In his absence, Rocky Graziano comes to the fore. Like him an immigrant, only Italian. The two fight three exciting battles that will go down in world boxing history.

The first takes place on 27 September 1946. At Yankees Stadium, a crowd of nearly forty thousand is watching a bout for which the world title is at stake. "Old fox" Zale once again displays that ironclad resilience of his. Even though Rocky is putting him down mercilessly in the second or third round, he's holding it together. And in the sixth round, he delivers the decisive combination. Graziano falls to the boards. "The Man of Steel" returns and becomes world champion again. "Przegląd Sportowy" writes like this:

"The fight was over. But the Italian did not know it. He was semi-conscious and did not remember at all that the referee had calculated. His fighting instinct urged him to continue his efforts. After all, he had to make amends with his opponent. He got up and threw himself at Zale. The referee and his own seconds had to forcibly drag the Italian away from the champion, who defended his title in a fight that was later called the fight of the century."

A rematch was only a matter of time and the details of the contracts being agreed. On 16 July 1947 at Chicago Stadium it is the veteran Tony, six springs older than Graziano, who begins the charge. He slaps his opponent so hard that his face is drenched in blood. After the third round, the ring referee even comes up to Rocky and remarks:

"I'm giving you one more chance, but remember: as soon as Rocky is in trouble again, I'm stopping the fun right away. I don't want any of us to be sentenced to the chair for murder."

And a shattered Graziano seems to have sobered up. From that moment on, he begins to tip the balance of victory to his side. In round number six he sends the final combination. Zale falls to the floor. From now on, they both have one triumph each. A third fight must therefore take place.

On 10 June 1948, the boxing giants face each other again. Boxing is about to get an answer as to which of them is the actual champion. Tony prepares himself meticulously for this fight. And from the first exchange he gives proof of this, to close the trilogy in the third round. With this win, he regains the world middleweight title. Before him, only Stanley Ketchal had achieved a similar feat, although it was actually Stanislaw Kiecial, also a Pole by origin.

After these three phenomenal bouts, Zale fights only once, in Jersey City against Marcel Cerdan. He loses, forfeiting the title and, at the age of 35, ends his career.

After that, as long as his health allowed, he is an active man. He works in the automotive industry. He plays in films. Once even himself! Except that he takes the role so seriously that he knocks out the actor, Paul Newman, during the filming of scenes from a boxing fight.

Twice married, he lived to have children. He writes an autobiography, Somebody Up There Likes Me. From 1949 to 1970, he is head boxing trainer for the Chicago Catholic Youth Organization. Becomes a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and is regarded as one of the best 'middleweights' in the history of fisting. He dies in 1997, having previously struggled with Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's.