# Daniel Dăncuță

Daniel Rică Dăncuță (born 28 May 1971) is a Romanian former professional boxer.

## Career

Daniel Dăncuță won twice the Romanian National Amateur Boxing Championship at the super heavyweight division in 1990 and 1991. He made his professional debut in 1992 at the age of 21 when he defeated Rudy Gutierrez by unanimous decision in a bout held at the Marriott Hotel from Irvine, California. Through his career he fought against Larry Donald, Tony Tubbs, James Smith and Jimmy Thunder. His professional career ended in 1995 with 16 wins and 3 defeats, all of his bouts took place in the United States as he had his residence in Anaheim, California. During this period, Dăncuță worked for a while as sparring partner for Mike Tyson.

## Controversy

In December 2011 Dăncuță was arrested by the DIICOT, being accused of initiating and forming an organized criminal group. The main accusation was that the group was skimming credit cards in Italy, Sweden, Slovenia and Netherlands. On 8 February 2012, the Bucharest Court of Appeal admitted Dăncuță's request for provisional release under judicial control, but only six days later he was arrested again by DIICOT for violating the conditions of his judicial control by going to see the boxing match between Ronald Gavril and Andrejs Loginovs. In 2014 he was convicted by a trial from Bucharest to 3 years and 6 months in prison. For similar crimes he was convicted in Italy (2001), Great Britain (2005, 2007) and Germany (2008).

## Professional boxing record

| 19 fights | 16 wins | 3 losses |
| By knockout | 11 | 1 |
| By decision | 5 | 2 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location |
| 19 | Loss | 16–3 | Jimmy Thunder | TKO | 2 (10), 2:52 | 9 May 1995 | Aladdin Theatre, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. |
| 18 | Win | 16–2 | Jordan Keepers | TKO | 1 (8), 1:05 | 17 April 1995 | The MARK of the Quad Cities, Moline, Illinois, U.S. |
| 17 | Win | 15–2 | Craig Payne | KO | 6 (8), 2:48 | 7 March 1995 | Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, Prior Lake, Minnesota, U.S. |
| 16 | Win | 14–2 | Mike Robinson | TKO | 4 (8) | 18 August 1994 | Foxwoods Resort, Ledyard, Connecticut, U.S. |
| 15 | Win | 13–2 | Larry Davis | KO | 1 | 4 August 1994 | Foxwoods Resort, Ledyard, Connecticut, U.S. |
| 14 | Win | 12–2 | Jerry Jones | UD | 8 (8) | 21 July 1994 | Foxwoods Resort, Ledyard, Connecticut, U.S. |
| 13 | Win | 11–2 | Dwayne Hall | TKO | 1, 2:25 | 10 May 1994 | Foxwoods Resort, Ledyard, Connecticut, U.S. |
| 12 | Win | 10–2 | James Smith | UD | 3 (3) | 3 December 1993 | Casino Magic, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, U.S. |
| 11 | Loss | 9–2 | Tony Tubbs | UD | 3 (3) | 3 December 1993 | Casino Magic, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, U.S. |
| 10 | Win | 9–1 | Derrick Roddy | TKO | 1 (3), 2:30 | 3 December 1993 | Casino Magic, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, U.S. |
| 9 | Win | 8–1 | Phil Prince | TKO | 1 (6) | 26 October 1993 | Foxwoods Resort, Ledyard, Connecticut, U.S. |
| 8 | Win | 7–1 | Matthew Brooks | KO | 2 (4), 0:58 | 5 October 1993 | Riviera, Winchester, Nevada, U.S. |
| 7 | Win | 6–1 | Edward Escobedo | PTS | 4 (4) | 30 August 1993 | Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. |
| 6 | Loss | 5–1 | Larry Donald | MD | 6 (6) | 6 June 1993 | Aladdin, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. |
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Jimmy Bills | TKO | 1 (6), 0:38 | 20 April 1993 | Riviera, Winchester, Nevada, U.S. |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | James Broad | UD | 4 (4) | 14 February 1993 | Aladdin, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Craig Brinson | KO | 1 (4), 0:37 | 24 September 1992 | Marriott Hotel, Irvine, California, U.S. |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Ricardo Phillips | TKO | 1 (4) | 30 July 1992 | Marriott Hotel, Irvine, California, U.S. |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Rudy Gutierrez | UD | 4 (4) | 25 June 1992 | Marriott Hotel, Irvine, California, U.S. |