ROCHESTER — Last winter, Rochester’s Cody Zombeck won his first New England Golden Gloves boxing title in Lowell, Mass., capturing the 178-pound novice class championship at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium.

He’ll try to win another title this month at 172 pounds, although the fact that he is even there is short of a miracle.

Last summer while racing dirt bikes, Zombeck, 23, who trains with the Seacoast Boxing Club, crashed during a jump and broke two bones in his leg.

“He had major surgery and came back to win,” said Seacoast Boxing coach Kris Kimber.

The crash happened in August and Zombeck had to take two months off to recover from surgery. He returned to training in October.

Zombeck is facing the same fighter who beat him by TKO in the third period during a match in Vermont two years ago, Jordy Artica of Chelsea, Mass. The two will meet Thursday night in the Tournament of Champions semifinals in Lowell. The winner advances to the championship on Feb. 15.

Weigh-in Thursday is at 5 p.m. Matches start at 7:30 p.m.

Zombeck advanced to Lowell by winning his weight division title at the Northern New England Golden Gloves tournament in Essex Junction, Vt., last Saturday. He won by unanimous decision.

“He totally controlled the whole fight massively,” Kimber said. “He made his punches count and bloodied him up.”

Kimber said that Zombeck is still not fully recovered from his accident. In fact, he said, Zombeck is taking several days off before Thursday’s fight to rest his swelling leg.

“He’s still hurtling,” Kimber said.

— Mike Whaley