István Kovács

István Kovács [ iʃtva ː n kova ː ʧ ] ( born August 17, 1970 in Budapest ) is a retired Hungarian boxer.

Amateur

Kovács 1988 European Junior champion in the light flyweight, the lowest weight class in amateur boxing in Gdansk. In 1991 he won the flyweight at the European Championships in Gothenburg and at the World Championships in Sydney, where he suggested, among others, the American Tim Austin.

For his participation in the Olympic Games in Barcelona, ​​he won a bronze medal, he lost it in the semifinals to eventual winners, the North Koreans Choi Chol -Su.

In 1993 he moved into the bantamweight and was at the European Championships in Bursa Third, he failed in the semifinal at the Russians Raimkul Malachbekow. Another third place he won in 1994 after a defeat against the Bulgarians Alexander Christow at the World Cup in Bangkok, at the World Championships in Berlin in 1995, he lost in the first battle against the German representative Dirk Krüger.

But at the European Championships 1996 he beat both Christow and Malachbekow and won gold. At the Olympic Games in Atlanta, he became Olympic champion. In 1997, he won the domestic Budapest with a final victory against the Germans Falk huste his second world championship in the featherweight. His record: 282-14-1.

Professional

In 1997, he was in Germany with Universum Box-Promotion professional and defeated initially largely unknown structure opponents. In June 2000, he beat Steve Robinson in battle for championship on points.

On 27 January 2001 Kovács won the vacant WBO featherweight title against Antonio Díaz from the Dominican Republic. Naseem Hamed had resigned the title before. But already in his first title defense, he lost to Argentine Juan Pablo Chacón by technical knockout in the eighth round. Shortly afterwards, he finished his career.