Leszek Drogosz

Leszek Drogosz 2007

Leszek Melchior "Lech" Drogosz (born January 6, 1933 in Kielce ; † September 7, 2012 there ) was a Polish boxer . He was a three-time European amateur champion and a bronze medalist at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome in the welterweight division .

Life

Leszek Drogosz grew up in Kielce and started boxing there in 1946 as a teenager at SHL Stal Kielce. Even in the junior division he was one of the best Polish boxers - thanks to his coach Jan Szczyglowski at the time. He completed an apprenticeship as a mechanic and then attended a technical center in Warsaw . He therefore boxed for CWKS Warsaw at the beginning of the 1950s. He later worked for LTS Łabędy and ended his career with Blekitni Kielce in 1968 .

Although Leszek Drogosz had not yet become Polish champion in 1952, he took part in the preparations for the Olympic Games that year in Helsinki , where he was able to convince the legendary Polish state coach Feliks Stamm that he was featherweight (up to 57 kg body weight) at the Olympic Games ) was used. He won his first fight against Pedro Galasso from Brazil in Helsinki , but lost in the quarterfinals to the Italian Sergio Caprari on points and had to retire without winning a medal.

In 1953 Leszek Drogosz became the first Polish champion in light welterweight (up to 63.5 kg body weight). He was therefore allowed to compete in this weight class at the European Championships in Warsaw in the same year and was there a. a. with victories over Francisc Ambrus from Romania in the semifinals and over Terry Milligan from Ireland in the final European Champion.

Two years later he successfully defended this title at the European Championships in Berlin (West). It took him five wins. He was each point winner over Karl-Heinz Boveleth from the Federal Republic of Germany , Leopold Potesil from Austria and Bruno Ravaglia from Italy . Then he celebrated one of the greatest victories of his boxer career in the semifinals, when he outscored the extremely strong Soviet champion Vladimir Jengibarjan . In the final he then managed a certain points victory over Pál Budai from Hungary .

At the Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956 , Leszek Drogosz met in the first round against Wladimir Jengibarjan, who took revenge for the previous year's defeat and defeated Leszek Drogozs clearly on points. He was eliminated early on, without being able to show in the further course of the tournament whether he would have been ripe for a medal.

Leszek Drogosz only competed in the 1959 European welterweight championship in Lucerne (then up to 67 kg body weight). He succeeded in the second round of an impressive demolition victory over Richardas Tamulis from the USSR in the second round . He also defeated Andres Navarre Moreno from Spain in the quarter-finals and Bruno Guse from the GDR in the semi-finals on points. In the final he defeated the strong Italian Carmelo Bossi clearly on points and became European champion among the amateurs for the third time.

In 1960 Leszek Drogosz succeeded in winning the longed-for medal in Rome when he took part in the Olympic Games for the third time. There he defeated Benni Nielsen from Denmark , Ghasem Vavar Kandi, Iran , and Henry Loubscher from South Africa, each on points and was defeated in the semifinals by Yuri Radonjak from the USSR with a controversial 2: 3 judge's votes. That left him with the bronze medal .

Leszek Drogosz was next to the title win at the Polish championship in 1953 in the light welterweight in the years 1954, 1955, 1958, 1960, 1061, 1964 and 1967 also Polish champion in the welterweight. He did not participate in international championships after the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960.

In the course of his career Leszek Drogosz started in 33 international matches for Poland between 1952 and 1960 and was victorious 30 times. These international matches were of great importance at the time and were particularly popular with the spectators.

In 1968 he ended his boxer career. He had contested a total of 354 fights, achieved 340 victories and lost only 14 fights.

Between 1967 and 1977 Leszek Drogosz, who was nicknamed "Bulakow", was also successful as a film actor. Otherwise he worked for the Polish Boxing Association and for his home club Blekitni Kielce as a boxing trainer for many years . His best student was Witold Stachurski .

successes

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, EM = European Championship, Fe = featherweight, Hw = light welterweight, We = welterweight, back then up to 57 kg, 63.5 kg and 67 kg body weight)

year	space	competition	Weight class
1953	1.	EM in Warsaw	Half-worlds	before Terry Milligan , Ireland , Francesco Ambrus, Romania a . Bela Szakacs, Hungary
1955	1.	EM in Berlin (West)	Half-worlds	before Pál Budai , Hungary , Wladimir Jengibarjan , USSR and H. Petersen, Denmark
1959	1.	EM in Lucerne	Welter	in front of Carmelo Bossi , Italy , Bruno Guse , DDR a . Harry Perry, Ireland
1960	bronze	OS in Rome	Welter	behind Giovanni Benvenuti , Italy and Juri Radonjak , USSR, together with James Lloyd, Great Britain

International battles

International match 1952 Poland against Czechoslovakia: Drogosz (right) wins over Zachara

• 1952 in Wrocław : Poland against Czechoslovakia , Fe, points winner over Ján Zachara
• 1952 in Moscow : USSR against Poland, Fe, point defeat (1: 2) against Alexander Fedosejewitsch Sassuchin
• 1952 in Moscow: Poland against GDR, Fe, points winner over Walter Karnberger
• 1952 in Moscow: Poland against Czechoslovakia, Fe, points winner over Jan Stehlik
• 1952 in Moscow: Poland against Romania, Fe, point defeat against Eustatiu Margarit
• 1952 in Moscow: Poland against Bulgaria, Fe, points winner over Jordan Gjulew
• 1954 in Budapest : Hungary against Poland, Hw, points winner over Istvan Kisfalvi
• 1954 in Warsaw : Poland against Belgium, Hw, techn. KO winner 2nd row over Gabriel Gobin
• 1954 in Wrocław: Poland against GDR, Hw, points winner over Conny Guthschmidt
• 1954 in Sofia : Bulgaria against Poland, We, points winner over Arko Sardarjan
• 1954 in Sofia: Poland against USSR, We, points winner over Stanislaw Isajew
• 1954 in Sofia: Poland against GDR, We, Punktz winner over Günther Müller
• 1954 in Sofia. Poland against Hungary, We, points winner over Andreas Doeri
• 1954 in Paris : France against Poland, We, points winner over Michael Lombardet
• 1954 in Antwerp : Belgium against Poland, We, points winner over Jean Milaire
• 1954 in Katowice : Poland against Sweden, We, points winner over Mauri Backman
• 1955 in Warsaw: Poland against Yugoslavia, We, points winner over Nenad Maric
• 1955 in Prague : Czechoslovakia against Poland, We, point winner üger Josef Kasal
• 1955 in Helsinki : Finland against Poland, Hw, points winner over Ake Kuha
• 1956 in Nowa Huta : Poland against Hungary, Hw, points winner over Bela Szakacs
• 1956 in Warsaw: Poland against FRG, We, points winner over Manfred Hass
• 1957 in Dortmund : FRG against Poland, We, points winner over Karl-Heinz Johannpeter
• 1957 in Warsaw: Poland against Finland, We, points winner over Martti Huhtala
• 1957 in London : England against Poland, We, points winner over B. Penn
• 1957 in Budapest: Hungary against Poland, We, points winner over Bela Szakacs
• 1958 in Łódź : Poland against FRG, Hw, points winner over Erwin Rogosch
• 1958 in Warsaw: Poland against France, Hw, points winner over Claude Saluden
• 1958 in Bydgoszcz : Poland against Yugoslavia, Hw, points winner over Slobodan Vitic
• 1958 in Warsaw: Poland against Hungary, Hw, points winner over Istvan Juhasz
• 1958 in Rostock : GDR against Poland, Hw, points winner over Lothar Rödel
• 1958 in Essen : FRG against Poland, Hw, points winner over Gerhard Dieter
• 1959 in Zagreb : Yugoslavia against Poland, Hw, points winner over Ilja Lukic
• 1959 in Ljubljana : Yugoslavia against Poland, Hw, point defeat against Ilja Lukic
• 1960 in Łódź: Poland against FRG, We, points winner over Hans-Heinrich Dieter

swell

• Box Sport trade magazine from 1952 to 1968,
• Box Almanach 1920–1980 , publisher of the German Amateur Boxing Association, 1980,

Web links

• Leszek Drogosz in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Leszek Drogosz in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Portrait of Leszek Drogosz (Polish)