János Kajdi

János Kajdi, 1966

János Kajdi (born December 30, 1939 in Szombathely , † April 10, 1992 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian boxer . He was the silver medalist at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich in the welterweight division and two-time European amateur boxer champion.

Career

János Kajdi started boxing at Szombathely "Dózsa" in 1950. In 1955 he moved to Komaromi "Melyepitök", in 1958 to Sztalinvarosi "Vasas" and after joining the Hungarian army in 1960 to "Honved" Budapest . As a physically strong and robust type, János Kajdi also had excellent technology that enabled him to perform outstandingly.

In 1960 he made it to the Hungarian national team, but not yet qualified for the Hungarian Olympic team for the Games in Rome . In 1961 he was the first Hungarian lightweight champion (at that time up to 60 kg body weight) and thus qualified for the European championship in Belgrade . There he fought well and won over Gustav Simonica, Romania and Giuseppe Sabri from Italy . In the semifinals, he met the Scottish Olympic champion Richard McTaggart , against whom he lost on points. With the bronze medal he won his first medal at an international championship. In the same year he also won the 2nd Army Championship of the Armies of the Warsaw Pact States (SKDA Championship) in Sofia . In the final he defeated Jürgen Martsch from the GDR there .

In 1962 he won again at the SKDA lightweight championship in Kromirz / ČSSR . There he defeated the Soviet athlete Gennady Kakoschkin on points. Other international championships did not take place this year.

In 1963, the European Amateur Boxer Championships were held again in Moscow . Janos Kájdi started there again in the lightweight. He won over Jacques Cotot, France , Josef Grudzien , Poland , Tauno Halonen , Finland and in the final over Boris Nikanorow from the USSR on points and won the first European title of his career.

At the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo , János Kajdi hoped to win a medal. He also won his first two fights. He knocked Gurung Ramrasad from Nepal in the first round and won over Alex Odhiambo from Uganda on points. In the quarter-finals he met Wilikton Barannikow from the USSR and had to accept a surprising knockout defeat in the 2nd round, which shattered the dream of winning a medal.

In 1965 János Kajdi paused at the Hungarian championship and the European championship. But towards the end of the year he won a well-attended tournament in Ostrava, where he started in the light welterweight division (class up to 63.5 kg body weight) for the first time.

In 1966 he celebrated three major tournament victories. In those years international tournaments began to replace the country fights that had been common up until then more and more. He won the 6th Honved Cup in Budapest and the extremely strong Dutch Tulips Tournament in Rotterdam both light welterweight. He also won for the third time at the SKDA championship in Budapest with a victory in the final over the Soviet athlete Shulga.

At the European Championships in Rome in 1967 , where he was light welterweight at the start, János Kajdi won on points over Jean-Paul Bigot from France and Antonio Vasile from Romania . In the semifinals he was defeated by Jerzy Kulej from Poland with a score of 3-2 and therefore only came in 3rd place.

He met Jerzy Kulej in the first round of the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City . He gave this superboxer an even fight and had to give up again with 3: 2 referee votes. A bitter defeat for him, because he was probably next to Kulej, who became Olympic champion , the strongest boxer in the light welterweight division of this Olympic tournament and yet went completely empty.

After this disappointment, János Kajdi used the years 1969 and 1970 to switch to the next higher weight class, the welterweight (at that time up to 67 kg body weight). He was far from giving up. He showed this at the European Championships in Madrid in 1971 . Now already 32 years old he dominated the welterweight division there and celebrated victories over Dave Davis, Wales , Victor Zilberman from Romania and Celal Sandal from Turkey . He was in the final against the 1968 Olympic champion Manfred Wolke from the GDR. In this fight this time he had the luck of the capable on his side, because he won with 3: 2 judges votes and thus became European champion for the second time .

As an encore, he won the SKDA championship again in Miskolc in 1971 with a point victory over the Soviet athlete Vladimir Musalimov .

In 1972, János Kajdi wanted to finally win an Olympic medal at the Olympic Games in Munich . He succeeded in doing this too. He won his first fight over Johan Vrij from the Netherlands on points, then knocked Damdinaav Bandi from Mongolia in the 2nd round and won in the quarterfinals over Maurice Hope from Great Britain and in the semifinals over Richard Murunga from Kenya on points. In the final he met the Cuban Emilio Correa , one of the best boxers of those years and had to admit defeat to him with 0: 5 judges' votes. But with the silver medal at his third Olympic Games he had finally won an Olympic medal.

After that, János Kajdi resigned as an active boxer. But he was still active as a coach in boxing for many years. He died in 1992 at the age of 53.

Hungarian championships

János Kajdi was lightweight in 1961 and 1962, light welterweight in 1963, 1966, 1967 and 1968 and Hungarian welterweight champion in 1970, 1971 and 1972.

International battles

• 1960 in Budapest , Hungary against Belarus , points winner over Lizurchik,
• 1961 in Budapest, Hungary against Bulgaria , points winner over Stojan Pilichew,
• 1961 in Budapest, Hungary against Yugoslavia , points winner over Mihajlo Jelasic,
• 1961 in Budapest, Hungary against Poland , points winner over Jan Szczepański ,
• 1962 in Sofia , Bulgaria against Hungary, point defeat against Stojan Pilichew,
• 1962 in Plovdiv , Bulgaria against Hungary, knockout winner 2nd round over Ignatow,
• 1962 in Budapest, Hungary against ČSSR , knockout winner 3rd round over Zdenek Matula,
• 1962 in Belgrade , Yugoslavia against Hungary, points winner over Petar Benedek,
• 1962 in Łódź , Poland against Hungary, points winner over Jan Szczepanski,
• 1963 in London , England against Hungary, points winner over Billy Wilson,
• 1963 in Manchester , England against Hungary, points winner over W. Breslin,
• 1964 in Budapest, Hungary against England, winner by abandoning the 2nd round over Peter Campbell

swell

• Box-Sport trade journal from 1960 to 1972,
• Box Almanach 1920 - 1980 , published by the German Amateur Boxing Association, 1980,
• Website "www.amateur-boxing.strefa.pl",
• Website "www.sports123.com"