Former WBC Champion Łukasz Różański Hospitalized After Fatal Head-On Collision on S19

Łukasz Różański, a former WBC world champion and Polish heavyweight champion, was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries on Friday after a three-vehicle collision on the S19 expressway in Trzebownisko near Rzeszów, in which the driver of a wrong-way Hyundai died at the scene. The accident occurred after 9 a.m. and involved three vehicles: the Hyundai, a tow truck, and Różański's Lexus. Police from the Municipal Police Headquarters in Rzeszów confirmed the fatality in the afternoon hours. The 49-year-old Hyundai driver, a resident of Jarosław County, was traveling in the wrong direction toward Rzeszów when he struck a correctly traveling car transporter and then collided head-on with the Lexus. The Hyundai subsequently crashed into the barriers separating the traffic lanes and caught fire. Emergency services were unable to save the Hyundai driver, who died at the scene.

Coach confirms boxer's hospital stay after crash Krzysztof Przepióra, Różański's coach at Stal Rzeszów, confirmed to Interia that his fighter was the injured Lexus driver taken to hospital. Różański, 39, was transported to a medical facility following the collision, but services reported his injuries posed no danger to his life or health. Przepióra declined to provide further details, stating he was not authorized to share more information. The boxer's identity as the Lexus driver was first reported in the afternoon by Gazeta Wyborcza and subsequently confirmed by multiple outlets. The Municipal Police Headquarters in Rzeszów issued an official statement describing the sequence of events, noting that the 39-year-old Lexus driver sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

„Only this much can I confirm, but I am not authorized to provide detailed information” — Krzysztof Przepióra via sport.interia.pl

The police duty officer confirmed the death to Interia directly by phone after 4 p.m., stating the 49-year-old Hyundai driver died at the scene. Authorities said officers were working to establish the exact circumstances of the accident.

S19 blocked in both directions after the collision The S19 expressway was completely blocked in both directions following the accident, with police directing drivers to alternative routes. According to Super Express, disruptions were expected to last until around 2 p.m. The GDDKiA reported that three vehicles were involved in the collision and that one of them caught fire. The scale of the road closure reflected the severity of the impact and the need for emergency and investigative services to operate at the scene. Police stated they were carrying out actions to explain the full circumstances of the incident.

The S19 expressway in the Podkarpackie region has been the site of multiple serious road incidents in recent years, given its role as a high-traffic corridor in southeastern Poland. Wrong-way driving on expressways and motorways is among the most dangerous traffic violations, as it typically results in high-speed head-on collisions with little reaction time for correctly traveling drivers. Trzebownisko is a village in Rzeszów County, located in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, and sits along one of the busiest stretches of the S19 route near the regional capital.

Różański held WBC bridgerweight title before Friday's crash Łukasz Różański was born on January 23, 1986, in Rzeszów and built his professional career as a heavyweight and bridgerweight boxer. He held the WBC world title in the bridgerweight division, which has a weight limit of 101.6 kilograms, making him one of the most decorated Polish boxers in the heavyweight categories. He also holds the title of professional Polish heavyweight champion. The accident occurred in the vicinity of his hometown, as Rzeszów is the city where the boxer was born and where his club, Stal Rzeszów, is based. The circumstances of the crash — a wrong-way driver causing a multi-vehicle collision at expressway speeds — underscored the severity of the impact that Różański survived. Police investigations into the exact cause of the wrong-way driving were ongoing as of Friday afternoon, with no official explanation yet provided for why the Hyundai entered the expressway in the incorrect direction.