Marian Kasprzyk

Marian Kasprzyk, 2007

Marian Krzysztof Kasprzyk (born September 22, 1939 in Kołomań near Kielce , Poland ) is a former Polish boxer . He was Olympic welterweight champion in Tokyo in 1964 .

Career

Marian Kasprzyk started boxing as a teenager in 1955 at the Sparta Ziebice sports club . In the course of his career he also started for Nysy Kłodzko , BBTS Bielsko-Biała , Gornik Wesola and Gornik Pszów . He developed very quickly and started in 1960 for the first time at the Polish championship in light welterweight. He met Jerzy Kulej , the later Olympic champion , against whom he lost on points in the quarterfinals .

In the preparatory course for the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome , however, he convinced the national coach of the Polish boxer Feliks Stamm so much that he was used in the light welterweight division in place of Kulej in Rome. In Rome he won over Carmelo Garcia from Spain by knockout in the first round and György Pal from Hungary on points. In the quarterfinals he met the Soviet Olympic champion from 1956, the exceptional talent Vladimir Jengibarjan and managed the feat of beating him on points. He could not play against William Quartey from Ghana in the semifinals due to an injury and therefore had to be content with the bronze medal .

At the Polish championship in 1961, Marian Kasprzyk lost in the light welterweight division in the semifinals again against Jerzy Kulej. Nevertheless, he was also used this year at the European Championships in Belgrade . After winning points over Rupert König from Austria and Gerhard Dieter from the Federal Republic of Germany, he was defeated there in the semifinals against Aloizs Tumiņš from the Soviet Union on points and again won a bronze medal.

Marian Kasprzyk then suffered some indiscipline and was banned from the Polish Boxing Association for two years. In 1964 he was back in the Polish championship. But he was already defeated in the welterweight round in the round of 16 against Leszek Drogosz . Until the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo , however, he was in such good shape that he was once again given preference over his Polish competitors at these games. In Tokyo, he boxed welterweight and fully justified the trust placed in him. However, he was lucky that he was awarded a narrow 3-2 point win over Miguel Villugron from Chile in his first fight . In the next fights he won over Siriru Alipala from Nigeria , Kichijiro Hamada from Japan and Silvano Bertini from Italy on points, with the victory over Bertini also being very close. In the final, Marian Kasprzyk met the experienced Soviet starter Richardas Tamulis , whom he defeated with 4: 1 judges' votes and thus became Olympic champion .

Marian Kasprzyk was only 1.69 m tall, had a mustache and was very similar in style to the three-time Hungarian Olympic champion László Papp . He was therefore also referred to as the Polski Papp by his Polish fans . During his entire career he never managed to become Polish champion. After the Polish championships in 1964, he only started at the Polish championships in 1970. He also reached the final in the welterweight division, where he was disqualified in the fight against the youngster Zbigniew Zakrzewski because of unclean fighting style.

Before that, however, he competed again at the Olympic Games in 1968. In Mexico City, however, he was already defeated in the preliminary round against the American Armando Munoz on points and retired early.

At the national level, Marian Kasprzyk continued to box until 1976. At that time he was already working as a boxing trainer. Until his retirement he held this position very successfully in the associations Gornik Knurów , Gornik Wesola, Gornik Pszow and BBTS Bielsko-Biała. In 1977 he worked together with Jerzy Kulej in the feature film "Bokser".

Marian Kasprzyk played a total of 270 fights, of which he won 232. He boxed 10 draws and lost 28 fights.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, EM = European Championship, Hw = light welterweight, We = welterweight, at that time up to 63.5 kg or 67 kg body weight)

• 1960, bronze medal , OS in Rome , Hw, behind Bohumil Nemecek , ČSSR u. William Quartey , Ghana and together with Quincey Daniels, USA;
• 1961. 3rd place , EM in Belgrade , Hw, behind Aloizs Tumiņš , USSR a . Ljubisa Mehovic, Yugoslavia and together with Pierre Cosentino, Italy;
• 1964, gold medal , OS in Tokyo , We, ahead of Richardas Tamulis , USSR and Silvano Bertini , Italy a. Rertti Purhonen, Finland

International battles

• 1964 in Stuttgart , Germany against Poland , We, draw against Dieter Kottysch ,
• 1964 in Ravensburg , FRG against Poland, We, points winner over Hans-Heinrich Dieter,
• 1966 in Wrocław , Poland against ČSSR , We, point defeat against Bohumil Nemecek ,
• 1966 in Berlin (East), GDR against Poland, We, points winner over Wilfing,
• 1966 in Dessau , GDR against Poland, We, KO winner 2nd round over Schweidner,
• 1966 in Warsaw , Poland against Bulgaria , We, points winner over Christo Radew,
• 1966 in Algiers , Algeria against Poland, We, techn. Knockout loss on the 2nd row against Rabah Labiod

swell

• Box Sport trade journal from 1960 to 1970,
• Box Almanach 1920–1980 , publisher of the German Amateur Boxing Association, 1980,
• Website "www.sport-komplett.de",
• Website "www.amateur-boxing.strefa.pl",
• Website "www.olimpijski.pl"

Web links

• Portrait of Marian Kasprzyk in Polish