Viktor Savchenko
Viktor Grigoryevich Savchenko (Russian Виктор Григорьевич Савченко, English transcription Viktor Savchenko, . Born September 17, 1952) is a former Soviet boxer. He was world champion in 1978 and European champion in 1977 at light middleweight. He also won a silver medal in the light middleweight or middleweight at the 1976 Olympic Games and a bronze medal in 1980.
Career
Viktor Savchenko grew up in the Ukraine and began as a teenager with the boxes. After the first major successes, he trained in the common training center for the Army and the Dynamo sports organization in Dnepropetrovsk. He was a member of the sports organization Avangard.
For the first time he made a sustained attention to himself in 1975 when he became champion of Ukraine in the light middleweight. Although he did not participate in the Soviet Cup in 1975, he had made to the responsible Soviet coaches and especially on head coach Boris Stepanov such a good impression that he was nominated for the European Championships this year in Katowice. In Katowice he won the light middleweight over Svetomir Belić from Yugoslavia, Alexandru Tirboi from Romania and Hungary Mihaly Rapcsak from each clear 5-0 judges' votes. But in the final he was defeated by expert silver medalist of the 1972 Olympic Games Rudkowski Wieslaw from Poland with 1:4 judges' votes on points.
Viktor Savchenko was also sent to the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. After a bloodless victory over John Odhiambho from Uganda, he came in the next two fights to KO victories each in the second round of Pira Pierangelo from Italy and Alfredo Lemus from Venezuela. As a big favorite, he also went into the semi-final against Jerzy Rybicki from Poland, he showed in this fight but nervous and lost almost 2:3 with judges' votes on points and had to be satisfied with the Olympic bronze medal.
1977 Viktor Savchenko was with a points victory over Alexei Kruts first time Soviet champion. In the same year he also won his first international title at the European Championships in Halle in light middleweight. With a demolition victory in the second round of Vasile Didea from Romania, a bloodless victory over Zheljo Stefanov from Bulgaria, a clear 5-0 points victory over Jerzy Rybicki and a knockout victory in the first round of Markus Intlekofer from the Federal Republic of Germany, he was in superior style European champions.
1978 Viktor Savchenko fully focused on the World Championships in Belgrade. He did not start because of this also at the Soviet Championship. In Belgrade paid off this because he won there after a bloodless victory over George Kabuto from Uganda against Erol Keloğlu from Turkey by abortion in the first round and beat his old adversary Jerzy Rybicki in the semifinals in the first round KO. In the final he showed in the fight against Luis Felipe Martinez from Cuba again nervous and came to a happy 3-2 point victory and became world champion.
1979 had Viktor Savchenko at the Soviet middleweight championship in the semifinals a surprising demolition defeat in the third round against Anatoly Koptev accept. As the more experienced boxer but he was still employed at the European Championships in Cologne. In light middleweight where he won over Ulf Thorkildsen from Denmark by demolition in the 1st round, Vasile Girgavu from Romania by KO in the 1st round and Markus Intlekofer without a fight. In the final he showed his known weaknesses and succumbed unexpectedly to the Yugoslavs Miodrag Perunovic with 2:3 judges' votes on points.
In 1980 Viktor Savchenko finally in the middleweight division. In preparation for the Olympic Games in Moscow, he won earlier this year two good tournaments in occupied Belgrade and Lodz with a demolition victory in the second round of Boyko Kostadinov of Bulgaria and with a clear points victory over Tarmo Uusivirta from Finland. In the Soviet championship in the finals of the middleweight, he succeeded in revenge against Anatoly Koptev, this time he clearly hit on points.
In the Olympic boxing tournament he celebrated in his first four fights only premature termination victories: against Damir Škaro from Yugoslavia in the 3rd round against Robert Pfitscher from Austria in the second round, against Manfred Trauten from East Germany in the 2nd round and against Jerzy Rybicki in the 3rd round. In the final, but he did not make it his physical advantages against José Gómez Mustelier from Cuba to exploit. Gomez could not be set by the hard-hitting Savchenko and won with a 4-1 victory point the gold medal. For Viktor Savchenko only the silver medal remained.
After the Olympic Games in Moscow Viktor Savchenko ended his international career boxers. He was certainly one of the strongest impact Halbmittelgewichtler or middleweights who ever stood as amateurs in the ring, the show 's many kurzrundigen KO or termination victories. The fact that he has not yet won more international titles, was on his nerves, he had calculated usually in the finals not fully under control.
International success
(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, European Championship EM = Hm = light middleweight, Mi = middleweight, then to 72 kg or 75 kg body weight)
Soviet Championships
(Final results )