Leopold Potesil

Leopold Potesil
Data
Birth Name	Leopold Potesil
Weight class	Welterweight
nationality	Austria Austrian
birthday	May 13, 1935
Combat Statistics
Struggles	34
Victories	26th
Knockout victories	8th
Defeats	4th
draw	4th

Leopold Potesil (born May 13, 1935 ) is a former Austrian boxer, four-time national champion, two-time Olympic participant and vice-European champion for amateurs and national champion for professionals.

Amateur career

Potesil was Austrian lightweight champion in 1952 , qualified as one of only four Austrian boxers for the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki and won his first fight against the Korean Sang Jum Ju unanimously on points. But he lost his next fight against the Argentine Américo Ángel Bonetti by unanimous decision on points and was eliminated in the preliminary round. In 1953 he was again Austrian lightweight champion, in 1956 also in light welterweight.

After he had qualified as the only Austrian boxer for it, he also took part in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne , where he started in the light welterweight division. Again, he won his first fight against the Brazilian Celestino Pinto by winning points, but lost again his second fight by losing points to the Argentine Antonio Marcilla. In 1957 he won the Austrian welterweight championship.

At the 12th European Championships in 1957 in Prague he was allowed to participate as one of six Austrians and won the silver medal in the welterweight division. He had defeated the Hungarian Laszlo Sebok on points in the preliminary round and the Englishman Robert Warnes in the quarter-finals as well, reached the semi-finals as the only Austrian and won there with an extremely rare wo ( walk over ) against the Irishman Fred Tiedt. As one of only three German-speaking boxers among twenty finalists, he entered the ring against the German Manfred Graus , lost to a technical knockout in round 3 and thus received silver in his weight class.

Professional career

He finally became a professional boxer in April 1958 and remained undefeated in his first 18 fights. He not only defeated mediocre opponents, but also more demanding boxers such as the former German champion Hans Häfner, who had only suffered nine defeats in 75 fights. On November 20, 1959, Potesil suffered the first defeat of his professional career when he was sent to the boards by the blatant outsider Andre Scheppler (1 win, 1 loss) in round 7 and lost to knockout.

After three victories in a row, he lost on September 23, 1960 against the former German champion Günther Hase by technical knockout in round 7, but was able to win the rematch with a points win. After a draw against Toon Schuurmans from the Netherlands, he became the new Austrian welterweight champion on September 15, 1961 with a knockout victory in round 9 over Joachim Windbichler. In his next two fights, he defeated the Syrian Mohammed Mousri and the Dutch champion from 1958, Theo Baars. On October 4, 1962, he suffered a heavy knockout defeat in round 2 against former European champion Christian Christensen and then ended his career.

Almost three years later, on September 3, 1965, he returned to the ring and won against the Italian Mario Bacchetti by winning points over six rounds before finally retiring from active boxing and becoming a boxing coach for the Box Union favorites (BUF) operated.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Potesil, Leopold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Austrian boxer
DATE OF BIRTH	May 13, 1935