Valeri Vladimirovich Popenchenko (, 26 August 1937 – 15 February 1975) was a Soviet Olympic boxer who competed in the

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

division (−75 kg). During his career he won 200 out of 213 bouts; he won an Olympic gold medal in 1964 and European titles in 1963 and 1965. He was named the Outstanding Boxer of the 1964 Olympics and given the

Val Barker Trophy The Val Barker Trophy is presented every four years to the most "outstanding boxer" at the Olympic Games. In theory, the award goes to the top "pound for pound" boxer in the Olympics. The winner is selected by a committee of International Boxin ...

, becoming the only Soviet boxer to receive the honour. Popenchenko was known for his exceptional skills and agility in the ring, as well as his strong left hook.

Biography

Popenchenko took boxing in 1948, and in 1959 won his first Soviet title. He finished third in 1960, but reclaimed the title in 1961 through 1965. He retired in 1965 and was awarded the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

. In 1968, he graduated from the Leningrad Military Higher School of the Border Service, and from 1970 until his death worked as a head of physical culture department of the

Bauman Moscow State Technical University The Bauman Moscow State Technical University (BMSTU; ), sometimes colloquially referred as the ''Bauman School'' or ''Baumanka'' (), is a public technical university (Institute of technology, polytechnic) located in Moscow, Russia. Bauman Univ ...

. In the mid 1970s the university was building new sporting facilities, and as department head Popenchenko would often visit the construction site. On 15 February 1975, while running down the stairs where handrails were not yet installed, he lost his balance, fell three floors and died. He was buried at

Vvedenskoye Cemetery Vvedenskoye Cemetery ( rus, Введенское кладбище, p=vʲːɪˈdʲenskəjə) is a historic cemetery in Lefortovo District of Moscow in Russia. Until 1918 it was mainly a burial ground for the Catholic and Protestant communities ...

1964 Olympic results

Below are the results from the 1964 Tokyo Olympic boxing tournament of Valeri Popenchenko of the Soviet Union who competed in the middleweight division: * Round of 32: bye * Round of 16: defeated Sutan Mahmud (Pakistan) referee stopped contest * Quarterfinal: defeated Joe Darkey (Ghana) by decision, 5-0 * Semifinal: defeated Tadeusz Walasek (Poland) by knockout * Final: defeated Emil Schulz (United Team of Germany) referee stopped contest (gold medal)

References

External links

* * *
Valery Popenchenko at databaseOlympics.com

Biography
1937 births 1975 deaths Martial artists from Moscow Oblast Academic staff of Bauman Moscow State Technical University Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Boxers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Dynamo Sports Club sportspeople Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers for the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in boxing Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Middleweight boxers Russian male boxers Soviet male boxers Accidental deaths from falls Burials at Vvedenskoye Cemetery 20th-century Russian sportsmen {{Russia-Olympic-medalist-stub