Pertti Purhonen

Pertti Ilmari Purhonen ( born February 14, 1942 in Helsinki, † February 5, 2011 in Porvoo ) was a Finnish boxer.

Amateur

Purhonens greatest achievement is winning the bronze medal in the welterweight division at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. He lost the semifinal against Ričardas Tamulis from the Soviet Union on points.

At the European Championships, he was less successful. The Championships in Belgrade in 1961, he lost in the first fight against Richard McTaggart. 1963 in Moscow, he met in the quarterfinals on Tamulis and was inferior to him in this fight. For his participation in the European Championships 1967 in Rome failed already in the first round on Danes Jørgen Hansen, who in turn was defeated Manfred cloud in the quarterfinals.

However Purhonen won eight Finnish championship titles: 1960 and 1961 in the lightweight, welterweight in 1962, 1963 and 1964 and from 1966 to 1968 in the welterweight division.

Professional

His professional career was very short, lasting only 2 fights he won both. In February 1969, he defeated the French Gérard Hedin on points and in December of the same year Jack Johnson of the Netherlands Antilles by way of knockout in the third round.

Late life

Purhonen suffered since around 2005 from Alzheimer's disease, from which he died in February 2011.