By Luke Furman

Rising Polish heavyweight contender Krzysztof Zimnoch (21-1-1, 14 KO) is facing a blast from the past when he takes on well known veteran Michael Grant (48-6, 36 KO) on April 22 in Legionowo, Poland.

Zimnoch is looking to work his way to a lucrative fight and a world title shot in the heavyweight division.

He's bounced back in form since suffering a shock first round knockout to veteran Mike Mollo in February of last year. He came back in May to beat Konstantin Airich, then won a split decision over Marcin Rekowski in October, and then last month he got some revenge by stopping Mollo in the sixth round of their rematch.

Back in 2013, Zimnoch won an eight round decision over the most recognizable name on his career, former WBC world champion Oliver McCall.

Grant has been out of the ring since October of 2014, when he suffered back to back knockout defeats to Manuel Charr and Carlos Takam.

Prior to those defeats, Grant had only suffered one loss in a 10 year span, and that came by decision to the biggest Polish star of this era, Tomas Adamek, in August of 2010.

Grant also faced another popular Polish fighter of the past, Andrew Golota, in November of 1999. The HBO televised fight was wild, with Golota dropping Grant twice in the first round and nearly knocking him out. Golota was way up on the cards when he was dropped in the tenth round, but for unknown reasons told the referee that he didn't want to continue and the fight was waved off.

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org