Jan Szczepański (boxer)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jan Szczepański (left), 1960

Jan Antoni Szczepański (born November 20, 1939 in Małecz , Powiat Tomaszowski , Łódź Voivodeship ; † January 15, 2017 ) was a Polish boxer . He was Olympic champion in 1972 in Munich and European champion in 1971 in Madrid in the lightweight.

Career

Jan Szczepański's career as a boxer has to be divided into two phases: the phase before 1964 and the phase after 1968. This is unusual, but Jan Szczepański's career was just as unusual. It began in 1955 when the apprentice mechanic started boxing at the Pilica Tomaszów Mazowiecki boxing club . His first trainer was M. Kraszewski. He achieved success in the national field relatively quickly. In 1958 he joined the Polish Army and became a member of the Legia Warsaw Army Sports Club , where he was trained by Marian Twardowski.

In 1958 he recorded his first major success when he finished 3rd in the Polish championship in lightweight. After stagnation in 1959 and 1960, he reached the final of the Polish championship again in 1961, in which, however, he was against Antoni Dasal by techn. KO in the 3rd round lost. Overall, he had convinced the Polish national coach Feliks Stamm at this championship, so that he was used at the European championship of the same year in Belgrade in the lightweight. In Belgrade, however, he met the Soviet champion Gennadi Kakoschkin in the preliminary round , to whom he lost on points and was eliminated.

In 1962 and 1963 Jan Szczepański was the Polish lightweight champion. He defeated it in the final matches Ryszard Dudczak and Włodzimierz Caruk. In 1963 he celebrated another notable achievement. He won the featherweight title at the 3rd Army Championship of the Armies of the Warsaw Pact States in Łódź (SKDA championship), defeating none other than Vladimir Safronov from the Soviet Union , the 1956 Olympic champion .

In late 1963, Jan Szczepański was arrested. He had been noticed for alcohol and drug abuse and had also committed a criminal offense. He was then sentenced to several years in prison. In 1968 he was released from prison on the basis of an amnesty and started boxing again at Legia Warsaw. He had overcome his problems and soon returned to his previous boxing level.

In 1969 he was again Polish champion in the lightweight and won this title again in 1970. In 1971 he finally managed to win the third title at the Polish championship in a row. He was then used again in international competitions, although he was already 32 years old. In 1971 he started at the European championship in Madrid in the lightweight. To the surprise of all experts, he won the European title with five wins. In this championship he defeated u. a. the excellent boxers Seyfi Tatar from Turkey , Nikolai Chromow from the Soviet Union and in the final Vasile Antoniu from Romania .

After this success he was able to prepare specifically for the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972 . He was therefore again in excellent shape in Munich and successively defeated Kasmiro Marchlo from Sudan , James Busceme from the United States and Charles Nash from Ireland . In the semifinals he was lucky, because he got a fight without a fight over the injured Samuel Mbugua from Kenya and in the final fight he won over the Hungarian László Orbán with 5: 0 judges votes. He crowned his eventful career with an Olympic victory.

In 1973 Jan Szczepański played a few more international matches, but soon resigned. In his career he had contested a total of 290 fights, of which he won 251.

He completed his training as a trainer and was a trainer at Polonia Warsaw and KSZO Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski . In 1976 he tried together with his former boxing mate Jerzy Kulej as a film actor in the film by the famous director Marek Piwowski ( Przepraszam, czy tu biją? ).

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, EM = European Championship, Fe = featherweight, Le = lightweight, Hw = light welterweight, back then up to 57 kg, 60 kg or 63.5 kg body weight)

Polish championships

(Final results)

  • 1961: Le, technical knockout loss 3rd round against Antoni Dasal,
  • 1962: Le, disqualification winner 2nd round over Ryszard Dudczak,
  • 1963: Le, points winner over Antoni Dasal,
  • 1969: Le, points winner over Włodzimierz Caruk,
  • 1970: Le, points winner over Jan Wadas,
  • 1971: Hw, points winner over Zbigniew Osztab

International battles

  • 1961 in Toruń , Poland B against GDR B, Le, points winner over Hans Bittmann,
  • 1961 in Łódź , Poland against Scotland , Le, points winner over James Lynch,
  • 1961 in Budapest , Hungary against Poland, Le, point defeat against János Kajdi ,
  • 1962 in Munich , FRG against Poland, Le, point defeat against Horst Herper ,
  • 1962 in Würzburg , FRG against Poland, Le, techn. KO winner 2nd round over Jürgen Voss,
  • 1962 in Szczecin , Poland against Ghana , Le, point defeat against Eddie Blay,
  • 1962 in Łódź, Poland against Hungary, Le, point defeat against János Kajdi,
  • 1963 in Łódź, Poland against USSR , techn. Knockout defeat 2nd round against Stanislaw Stepanowitsch Stepaschkin ,
  • 1971 in Wrocław , Poland against FRG, Le, points winner over Peter Henatsch,
  • 1971 in Potsdam , GDR against Poland, Le, points winner over Günther Radowski,
  • 1971 in Opole , Poland against Romania , Le, points winner over Vasile Antoniu ,
  • 1972 in Mielec , Poland against GDR, Hw, Abbr.-Winner 3rd row over Hans-Dietrich Kästner,
  • 1973 in Münster , Germany against Poland, Hw, techn. KO winner 2nd round over Burkhard Barnowski,
  • 1973 in Hanover , Germany against Poland, Hw, points winner over Franzek,
  • 1973 in Zrenjanin , Yugoslavia against Poland, Hw, point defeat against Zvonimir Vujin ,
  • 1973 in West Paterson (USA), USA against Poland, Le, points winner over Robert Alexander,
  • 1973 in Chicago , USA against Poland, Hw, points winner over Ronnie Walker

swell

  • Box-Sport trade journal , DNB 013443488 , from 1960 to 1973
  • German Amateur Boxing Association (Ed.): Box Almanach 1920 - 1980 . 1980
  • Website sport-komplett.de
  • Website amateur-boxing.strefa.pl
  • Website olimpijski.pl

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Never żyje legenda polskiego boksu . Fakt.pl , January 15, 2017, accessed on January 17, 2017 (Polish).
personal data
SURNAME Szczepański, Jan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Szczepański, Jan Antoni
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish boxer
DATE OF BIRTH November 20, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Małecz
DATE OF DEATH 15th January 2017