derek panza's kickboxing

3x World Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion

Undefeated Professional Boxer, 7 - 0, 4 K.O.'S

US National Karate Champion

Martial Arts History

Age 8 -	Began Martial Arts Training
Age 14 -	Received Black Belt in Shotokan Karate
Age 15 -	Won First Place in Kumite (Fighting) at National Junior Karate Championships
Age 19 -	Became Number One Nationally Ranked Professional Super Heavyweight Sport Karate Fighter - At that time the youngest fighter to accomplish that in the weight class

Age 20-21 -	Fought as a member of the "United States National Karate Team" and the "Paul Mitchell Sport Karate Team"
Age 22 -	Won the New York Metropolitan Boxing Championships in the Super Heavyweight division
Age 23 -	Made Professional Kickboxing Debut - Wins in 53 seconds by knockout and knocks out next two professional opponents in the first round
Age 24 -	Received "Top 10 Kickboxing World Ranking" by knocking out Larry "Thunderfoot" Cureton in the first round.
Age 25 -	Won Professional Boxing Debut at Caesar's Palace in Atlantic City.
Age 27 -	Won his first "World Kickboxing Championship" by knocking out UFC legend Pat Smith
Age 31 -	Captured the Prestigious "ISKA World Heavyweight Kickboxing Championship" by 12 round Unanimous Decision over England's Simon Dore.
Age 34 -	Fought in first season of the "World Combat League", produced by martial arts legend Chuck Norris.

Teaching and Training Experience

Derek has over 25 years teaching experience. He is a "USA Boxing Certified Coach." Derek has trained Professional Fighters to World Titles and is the only athlete to have fought in Chuck Norris "World Combat League" and later be appointed the "Head Coach" of the team he fought on, "The New York Clash."

Among Derek's list of fighters and professional athletes he has coached and trained are "UFC Champion" Guy Mezger, "World Kickboxing Champion" Tim Lane, "IFL" Champion Deividas Taurosevicius, "NY Jet" John Abraham, "NY Jet" Jason Fabini, "Atlanta Falcon" Eric Colman and Lacross "Olympic Gold Medalist" Nick Polanco.

Derek currently trains "Team Panza MMA" which features both amateur and professional fighters in the sports of boxing, kickboxing, and MMA. He was promoted to 6th Degree Black Belt by martial arts legend and "World Kickboxing Champion" Billy Jackson and currently is featured on FitnessRxmag.com giving functional training advice. Derek has worked as a spokesperson for MetRx Nutrition and has been featured in countless martial arts and fitness magazines and books including "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Kickboxing," "Black Belt Magazine," "Fight Sport Magazine," "Ultimate Fighter Magazine," "Full Contact Fighter Magazine," "Axle Magazine," "Met Rx Magazine," and "Fitness Rx Magazine."

Derek has made numerous TV appearances on The Howard Stern Show, ESPN2, Martial Arts World, and has had fights featured on MSG, ESPN2, and Vs Network. As a competitor Derek competed in over 400 Sport Karate fights, ran up a professional full-contact kickboxing record of 19-0, was 7-0 as a professional boxer and fought to a 3-1 record in the first season of "World Combat League." Derek holds three world championship titles in kickboxing and his passion to train and teach martial arts are greater than ever. Derek personally trains his professional and amateur fight team along with a variety of serious martial arts students ranging from ages eight to sixty. Teaching martial arts is first and foremost for Derek but due to his reputation as always being in superb physical condition for his fights as well as the conditioning of his fight team, Derek is sought out by a variety of professional athletes to enhance their overall physical condition including total body endurance, explosive power, lactic acid threshold training, agility, reflex, coordination, and hand and foot speed. Derek has trained stars from the NFL as well as Olympic athletes from Tae Kwon Do, Lacrosse, and Handball. In addition to the professional and Olympic athletes, Derek also trains a variety of college athletes from football, baseball, and lacrosse as well as nationally and world ranked tennis competitors.

Recently Derek has been devoting time to developing his instructional DVD series on kickboxing, writing a monthly column in "Fitness Rx for Men" entitled "Fighting your way to Fitness," as well as leading the WCA "World Cagefighting Alliance" to promoting events in boxing, kickboxing, and mixed martial arts.