Jerzy Kulej

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Jerzy Kulej (2011)

Jerzy Zdzisław Kulej (born October 19, 1940 in Czestochowa , Generalgouvernement , † July 13, 2012 in Warsaw ) was a Polish boxer and politician . He was Olympic champion in 1964 and 1968 and European amateurs champion in 1963 and 1965 in the light welterweight division . From 2001 to 2005 he sat for the League of Democratic Left in the Sejm .

Career

Jerzy Kulej (right) 1963

Jerzy Kulej started boxing in 1955 in Częstochowa. His first coach was Wiktor Szyiński. As early as 1957, he won several regional championships and tournaments at the national level. In 1957 he was first noticed positively by the Polish national coach Feliks Stamm . He made sure that he joined the police at the age of 18 and was delegated to Gwardia Warsaw . The club coach responsible for him there was Wiktor Nowak.

At the age of 18 he was first used by Feliks Stamm in the Polish national team. He defeated it on June 23, 1958 in an international match Poland against Yugoslavia in Bydgoszcz the Yugoslav champion Slobodan Vitić in the lightweight clearly on points. In 1959 he started at the European Light Welterweight Championship in Lucerne . After defeating the Romanian Constantin Dumitrescu , he met the Italian Piero Brandi , a future European champion of professional boxers, to whom he lost on points in the quarter-finals . At a boxing tournament in Vienna in 1959 Jerzy Kulej met the Soviet Olympic champion of 1956 Vladimir Jengibarjan , to whom he was only slightly defeated on points. In this fight he showed that he is an unusual talent who is still capable of many positive surprises.

In 1960 and 1961, however, it became clear that a great talent must also mature. In 1960 he came at the Polish championship in the final of the light welterweight division, but lost there against the outsider Józef Piński on points. In 1961 he was the first Polish champion. He clearly defeated Henryk Wojciechowski on points. At both championships he had also defeated Marian Kasprzyk . And yet Marian Kasprzyk was preferred to him both at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome and at the 1961 European Championship. The main reason for this was probably some defeats Jerzy Kulej suffered in international matches between 1959 and 1961. In addition to several victories, he was defeated in those years against Peter Benedek from Yugoslavia , Gerhard Dieter from the Federal Republic of Germany and Werner Busse and Alfred Harbig from the GDR. He boxed against Gerhard Dieter three times in his career in international matches and, curiously, lost three times on points, although, as will be shown, he was far more successful than Gerhard Dieter at the international championships.

In 1962 Jerzy Kulej won the light welterweight title at the 3rd Police Championship of the Eastern Bloc countries in Łódź by defeating the Bulgarian Alexander Mizew. In 1963 he started again at the European Championship for Amateurs in Moscow . He won there in the light welterweight over Wilfried Rühl from the GDR by knockout in the 3rd round and beat Ladislav Hecej from Czechoslovakia , Bruno Arcari from Italy and in the final Aloizs Tumiņš from the USSR on points and was thus the first time European champion .

In the spring of 1964 Jerzy Kulej was defeated in Moscow in an international match between the Soviet Union and Poland to the Soviet master Yevgeny Frolov on points. He met Yevgeny Frolov in the final of the Olympic tournament at the Games in Tokyo . Outstandingly employed by Felik's tribe, he was able to win this important fight on points and became Olympic champion . In the previous fights he had beaten Roberto Amaya from Argentina , Richard McTaggart from Great Britain , Iosif Mihalic from Romania and Eddie Blay from Ghana .

In 1965 Jerzy Kulej was European light welterweight champion for the second time in East Berlin . On the way to this title he defeated John Hawkins from England in the 1st round by KO, as well as István Kovács from Hungary , Jewgeni Frolow and Preben Rasmussen from Denmark on points. He won against Ermanno Fasoli from Italy in the semifinals without a fight, as he could not compete due to an injury.

In 1967 at the European Championships in Rome after victories over Henry Joyce from Scotland , Vladimír Kučera from Czechoslovakia and János Kajdi from Hungary in the final, he faced Valeri Frolow, USSR, who just got the upper hand with 3-2 judges' votes and Jerzy Kulej could refer to the 2nd place.

At the excellent Dutch Tulip Tournament in the spring of 1968 in The Hague, Jerzy Kulej was defeated by the exceptional János Kajdi just on points. It was probably a coincidence that these two boxers met in the first round of the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City . Jerzy Kulej had the better end for himself, because the judges decided for him with 3-2 votes. It was bad luck for János Kajdi, who was perhaps the second best boxer of this tournament in the light welterweight division, that he went completely empty. Jerzy Kulej fought his way through to the final with further victories over Gianbattista Capretti from Italy, Peter Tiepold from the GDR and Arto Nilsson from Finland , in which he narrowly beat Cuban Enrique Regüeiferos with 3: 2 judges' votes and for the second time Olympic champion in the light welterweight division has been.

After 1961, Jerzy Kulej was also Polish champion in 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1969 and 1970. In his long career, he also fought over 30 international matches for Poland.

Jerzy Kulej left the international boxing stage after his second Olympic victory in 1968. He finally said goodbye to the ring in 1972. He had contested a total of 348 fights, with 317 wins, 6 draws and 25 defeats.

Jerzy Kulej attended the Sports University (AWF) in Warsaw and graduated as a certified trainer in 1972. He later turned to politics. After the political change in Poland, he joined the League of Democratic Left and represented a Warsaw constituency in the Polish parliament, the Sejm, from 2001 to 2005 . In 2004 he became a member of the newly founded Socjaldemokracja Polska . He also worked as a boxing commentator for a Polish television station.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, EM = European Championship, Le = lightweight, Hw = light welterweight, We = welterweight, back then up to 60 kg, 63.5 kg and 67 kg body weight)

Polish championships

(Final results from Jerzy Kulej)

  • 1960: Hw, point defeat against Józef Piński,
  • 1961: Hw, points winner over Henryk Wojciechowski,
  • 1962: Hw, techn. KO winner 3rd round over Józef Piński,
  • 1963: Hw, points winner over Ryszard Rybski,
  • 1964: Hw, points winner over Jan Modrzakowski,
  • 1965: Hw, demolition winner 2nd round over Rajmund Bielecki,
  • 1967: Hw, points winner over Leszek Żeleźniak,
  • 1969: Hw, points winner over Ryszard Petek ,
  • 1970: Hw, points winner over Ryszard Petek

International battles

  • 1958: in Bydgoszcz , Poland against Yugoslavia , Le, points winner over Slobodan Vitić,
  • 1959: in Zagreb , Yugoslavia against Poland, Le, points winner over Peter Benedek ,
  • 1959: in Ljubljana , Yugoslavia against Poland, Le, point defeat against Peter Benedek,
  • 1960: in Łódź , Poland against FRG , Hw, point defeat against Gerhard Dieter ,
  • 1961: in Berlin (East), GDR against Poland, Hw, point defeat against Werner Busse ,
  • 1961: in Senftenberg , GDR against Poland, Hw, point defeat against Alfred Harbig,
  • 1961: in Łódź, Poland against England , Hw, techn. KO winner 3rd round over Alexander Forbes,
  • 1961: in Budapest , Hungary against Poland, Hw, points winner over Antal Holló,
  • 1962: in Munich , FRG against Poland, Hw, point defeat against Gerhard Dieter,
  • 1962: in Würzburg , FRG against Poland, Hw, point defeat against Wolfgang Schmidt ,
  • 1962: in Breslau , Poland against GDR, Hw, knockout winner 3rd round over Werner Busse,
  • 1962: in Łódź, Poland against Hungary, Hw, points winner over János Hajdu,
  • 1963: in Bucharest , Romania against Poland, We, points winner over Vasile Mirza,
  • 1963: in Poznań , Poland against GDR, Hw, knockout winner 2nd round over Werner Busse,
  • 1963: in Schwerin , GDR against Poland, Hw, points winner over Wilfried Rühl,
  • 1963: in Wrocław, Poland against FRG, Hw, point defeat against Gerhard Dieter,
  • 1963: in Łódź, Poland against the USSR , Hw, points winner over Juri Polyakov,
  • 1964: in Moscow , USSR against Poland, Hw, point defeat against Yevgeny Frolov ,
  • 1964: in Westward Ho! , England versus Poland, Hw, tech.-KO winner 3rd round over P. Young,
  • 1965: in Glasgow , Scotland against Poland, We, points winner over Andy Peace,
  • 1965: in Dublin , Ireland against Poland, We, KO winner 2nd round over Billy Turkington,
  • 1965: in Łódź, Poland against England, Hw, points winner over Kenneth Hawkins,
  • 1965: in Łódź, Poland against FRG, Hw, points winner over Reinhold Flohr ,
  • 1965: in Poznań, Poland against FRG, Hw, points winner over Reinhold Flohr,
  • 1966: in Wrocław, Poland against Czechoslovakia, Hw, Abbr.-Winner 2nd round over Stefan Bradzil,
  • 1966: in Warsaw, Poland against Bulgaria, Hw, points winner over Petar Stoitschew,
  • 1967: in Glasgow, Scotland against Poland, We, points winner over Millar,
  • 1967: in Warsaw, Poland against GDR, Hw, technical knockout winner 3rd round over Peter Rieger ,
  • 1967: in Vitry-sur-Seine , France against Poland, Hw, technical knockout winner 2nd round over Jean-Pierre Demarthe,
  • 1970: in Warsaw, Poland against GDR, Hw, technical knockout winner 3rd round over Peter Tiepold ,
  • 1970: in Cologne , Germany against Poland, Hw, points winner over Gerd Puzicha

swell

  • Box Sport magazine from 1958 to 1970,
  • Box Almanach 1920–1980 , published by the German Amateur Boxing Association ev, 1980,
  • Website "www.sport-komplett.de",
  • Website "www.amateur-boxing.strefa.pl",
  • Website "www.olimpijski.pl"

Web links

Commons : Jerzy Kulej  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary
personal data
SURNAME Kulej, Jerzy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kulej, Jerzy Zdzisław (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish boxer and politician, member of the Sejm
DATE OF BIRTH October 19, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Czestochowa
DATE OF DEATH July 13, 2012
Place of death Warsaw