Igor Yakovlevich Vysotsky

Igor Yakovlevich Vysotsky ; Russian Игорь Яковлевич Высоцкий ; (Born September 10, 1953 in Jagodnoye , Magadan Oblast ) is a former Soviet boxer . He was a Soviet champion and world heavyweight champion in 1978 .

Career

Igor Vysotsky started boxing in Magadan at the age of six. He was trained by his father Yakov Antonovich Vysotsky in the first years of his career. Even as a junior he was one of the best Soviet heavyweight boxers and he therefore moved to Moscow because of the better training conditions. There he became a member of the Trud Moscow Workers' Sports Club .

In 1972 he first took part in a major international tournament in Moscow. There he reached the final in the heavyweight division, in which he could no longer compete due to an eyebrow injury. Already at the age of 19 his susceptibility to injury was already evident in his eyebrows, which he had to struggle with throughout his career and which screwed up some successes for him. Igor Vysotsky was not a super technician, but a tough "puncher" who won over half of his fights early. On the other hand, his way of fighting meant that especially in his fights, the jury was often divided and many of his fights ended with 3: 2 judgments, sometimes for him, sometimes against him. The susceptibility to eyebrow cuts (cuts) naturally also hindered him during training, which again had a negative effect on his form.

1973 Igor Vysotsky was allowed to take part in the European Championship elimination in Lviv . He met Viktor Petrovich Uljanitsch in the quarter-finals and lost because he had to be taken out of the ring in the third round because of a cut. The officials of the Soviet boxing association liked him so much at this tournament that they sent him to Cuba, where he took part in the Giraldo Cordova Cardin tournament in Camagüey . He created a sensation in the final battle when, as a 20-year-old, he defeated the 1972 Olympic champion Teófilo Stevenson on points (3: 2) in the final. Then in 1976 he managed the same feat again. He defeated Teófilo Stevenson at an international tournament in Minsk by knockout in the 3rd round. These were the only two defeats Teófilo Stevenson suffered between the 1972 Olympics and the 1976 Olympics.

Igor Vysotsky first took part in the Soviet championship in 1974 and lost there in the semi-finals against Gennady Kokurin on points. In the Soviet Union at that time the so-called absolute master was also determined. The best boxers in the three heavy weight classes were eligible to compete in this championship. 1974 Igor Vysotsky came in this championship with a point win over Gennady Kokurin (3: 2) in the final, in which he had to be taken out of the ring against Yevgeny Gorstkow in the 3rd round because of a cut. In 1975 he was eliminated from the Soviet championship in the quarter-finals with a point defeat against Pyotr Sajew and only came in 5th place. He fared even worse at the Soviet championship in 1976, where he had to be taken out of the ring because of a cut in the round of 16 against Yuri Sudakov. In 1976 he was also taken to the Olympic Games in Montreal by the Soviet Boxing Association . He could not be used there because he sustained an eyebrow injury during training. And it went on like this in 1977, because Igor Vysotsky lost to Pyotr Sajew in the semi-finals of the Soviet championship because he had to be taken out of the ring again because of the same injury. In an international match in November 1976 Igor Vysotsky defeated the future professional world champion Tony Tubbs in Las Vegas by breaking off in the 2nd round.

In the next few years he was largely spared this injury. Well trained, he then won the Soviet championship in 1978, where he beat Mikhail Subbotin on points in the final battle. He also got the title of absolute master . On the way to this title he defeated Choren Indschejan, Evgeni Gorstkow and Mikhail Subbotin. In the same year Igor Vysotsky was used at the World Cup in Belgrade . There he met the internationally unknown French Dominique Nato in his first fight and lost against him, completely indisposed, on points (2: 3), with which he was eliminated and only finished 9th. For further international championships he could no longer qualify.

In 1979 and 1980 he still started at the Soviet championships. In 1979 he lost it in the semifinals against Viktor Uljanitsch on points and in 1980 he was already in the quarterfinals after losing points to Evgeni Gorstkow.

Igor Vysotsky played 185 fights in his career, of which he won 161. Today he runs a boxing school and a sports studio in Moscow.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Result
1972	2.	Intern. Tournament in Moscow	Heavy	after a defeat (injury) without a fight in the final battle against Vladimir Sagurski, USSR
1973	1.	Giraldo Cordova Cardin-Tournament in Camagüey / Cuba	Heavy	after winning points in the final over Teófilo Stevenson , Cuba (3: 2)
1974	2.	Cup tournament for the "black diamond" in Katowice	Heavy	after a defeat (injury) in the 2nd round against Andrzej Biegalski , Poland
1974	1.	Waclaw Prochazka tournament in Ostrava	Heavy	after winning points in the final over Alexander Wasjuschkin, USSR
1974	1.	Dutch Tulips tournament in The Hague	Heavy	after a knockout win in the first round over Georgi Stoymenow, Bulgaria and a point win in the final over Felipe Pineiro Rodriguez, Spain
1975	2.	6. Gryf Szczecinski Tournament in Szczecin	Heavy	after a point defeat in the final against Lucjan Trela , Poland) 2: 3)
1975	2.	Intern. Tournament in Leningrad	Heavy	after a point loss in the final against Nikolai Axjonow, USSR
1976	1.	Intern. Tournament in Minsk	Heavy	after a knockout victory in the 3rd round in the final over Teófilo Stevenson
1977	2.	Golden Belt Tournament in Bucharest	Heavy	after a point victory in the semifinals over Angel Milian , Cuba and a loss without a fight (injury) in the final against Mircea Simon , Romania
1977	3.	Giraldo Cordova Cardin-Tournament in Matanzas	Heavy	after a point defeat in the semi-finals against Angel Milian
1977	1.	Waclaw Prochazka tournament in Ostrava	Heavy	after winning points in the final over Dietmar Mayer, GDR
1978	9.	World Cup in Belgrade	Heavy	after a point defeat in the round of 16 against Dominique Nato, France (2: 3)
1979	2.	Intern. Tournament in Alma Ata	Heavy	after losing points in the final against Angel Milian
1979	3.	Giraldo Cordova Cardin-Tournament in Havana	Heavy	after a point defeat in the semi-finals against Angel Milian

International battles

year	place	encounter	Weight class	Result
1974	Moscow	USSR versus USA	Heavy	KO victory in the 1st round over Clifford Stevens
1975	Lake Tahoe	USA versus USSR	Heavy	Demolition victory in the 3rd round over Emory Chapman
1975	new York	USA versus USSR	Heavy	KO victory in the 1st round over Helton Willis
1975	new York	USA versus USSR	Heavy	Abort loss (injury) in the 3rd round against Jimmy Clark
1976	Las Vegas	USA versus USA	Heavy	Demolition victory in the 2nd round over Tony Tubbs
1976	new York	USA versus USSR	Heavy	Points victory over Jimmy Clark
1977	Las Vegas	USA versus USSR	Heavy	Points victory over Jimmy Clark
1977	Milwaukee	USA versus USSR	Heavy	KO victory in the 2nd round over Woody Clark
1977	Las Vegas	USA versus USSR	Heavy	Point loss to Greg Page
1977	New Orleans	USA versus USSR	Heavy	Points victory over Charles Garrett
1978	Alma Ata	USSR versus USA	Heavy	Points win over Mitch Green

Championships of the USSR

year	space	Weight class	Result
1974	3.	Heavy	after losing points in the semifinals against Gennadi Kokurin
1974	2.	Heavy	Determination of the "absolute master": after winning points over Sergei Lobanow (5: 0) and Gennadi Kokurin (3: 2), techn. Knockout loss (injury) in the 3rd round against Evgeni Gorstkow
1975	5.	Heavy	after losing points in the quarterfinals against Pyotr Sajew
1976	9.	Heavy	according to techn. Knockout loss (injury) in the 3rd round against Yuri Sudakow
1977	3.	Heavy	according to techn. Knockout loss (injury) in the 2nd round against Pyotr Sajew
1978	1.	Heavy	after a points victory in the final over Choren Indschejan, Evgeni Gorstkow and Mikhail Subbotin
1979	3.	Heavy	after a point defeat in the semi-finals against Viktor Petrovich Ulyanich
1980	9.	Heavy	after a point defeat in the last sixteen against Evgeni Gorstkow

swell

• Box Sport magazine
• Website "amateur-boxing.strefa.pl"
• Website "www.eastsideboxing.com"

Web links

• Interview with Igor Vysotsky in English
• Moscow 1978: Muhammad Ali in exhibition matches against Igor Vysotsky, Pyotr Sajew and Evgeni Gorstkow