Tadeusz Grzelak

Grzelak (right) in 1952 after his international victory over the Hungarian Farkas

Tadeusz Grzelak (born December 24, 1929 in Pinsk , † October 14, 1996 in Konin ) was a Polish boxer . He was vice European champion in 1953 in Warsaw in the light heavyweight division.

Career

Tadeusz Grzelak grew up in Kalisz and started boxing with Wlokniarza Kalisz as a teenager . In 1943 he was deported to Germany for forced labor by the Nazis . After his return to Poland , Wloknaniarz Kalisz boxed at CWKS Warsaw and KS Bielarnik until the end of his boxer career in 1962 .

Due to his good performance, he was accepted into the Polish national team in 1950. This year he started for Poland in an international match against Czechoslovakia and won the heavyweight division over Otto Rademacher on points. Until 1956 he was then used in many country fights and other international comparative fights and celebrated among other things. a. also victories over the German boxers Hans Robak, Wolfgang Motzkus, Erwin Hack, Dieter Plischka, Karl-Heinz Guder u. Willi Kopischke.

At the Polish championships he took third place in 1949 and a second place in the light heavyweight division in 1950. He was Polish champion in 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957. He was the clear dominator among the Polish boxers of the 1950s in the light heavyweight division. From 1958, however, he had to cede his dominance in this weight class to Zbigniew Pietrzykowski .

Tadeusz Grzelak made his first start in an international championship at the 1951 European championship in Milan . He had to admit defeat to Sweden's Rolf Storm on points in the quarter-finals and thus just missed a medal. The same thing happened to him at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki . He won there after a bye in the round of 16 over Franz Pfitscher from Austria on points and then lost in the quarter-finals to the eventual Olympic champion Norvel Lee from the United States on points.

The Polish boxing relay had been excellently prepared by Feliks Stamm for the European Championship in Warsaw in 1953 . Tadeusz Grzelak was also in very good shape there. He defeated Dumitru Ciobataru from Romania and Helmut Pfirrmann from Germany on points in Warsaw and was in the final against Ulli Nitzschke from the GDR . In this final, however, the nineteen-year-old Nitzschke turned out to be the clearly better technician who clearly won this fight on points. Tadeusz Grzelak but was nevertheless vice European champion .

Tadeusz Grzelak also started at the European Championships in 1955 in Berlin (West). He lost there in the quarterfinals against Ottavio Panunzi from Italy and came in 5th place.

After the end of his career as an active boxer, Tadeusz Grzelak was a coach at the following clubs: Prosnie Kalisz , Gwardia Kalisz , Gornik Konin , MKS Zaglebie and Gornik Wesola . He has fought a total of 385 fights in his career. He scored 324 wins, boxed twelve draws and lost 49 fights.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, EM = European Championship, Hs = light heavyweight, S = heavyweight, then up to 81 kg or over 81 kg body weight)

• 1951, 5th place , EM in Milan , Hs, behind Marcel Limage , Belgium , Bjarne Lingas , Norway , Gianbattista Alfonsetti, Italy a . Rolf Storm, Sweden ;

• 1952, 5th place , OS in Helsinki , Hs, behind Norvel Lee , USA , Antonio Pacenza, Italy, Anatoli Perow, USSR a. Harri Siljander , Finland ;

• 1953, 2nd place , EM in Warsaw , Hs, behind Ulli Nitzschke , GDR a . before Helmut Pfirrmann , FRG a. Yuri Yegorov, USSR;

• 1955, 5th place , EM in Berlin (West), Hs, behind Erich Schöppner , FRG, Ulrich Nitzschke, GDR, Ottavio Panunzi , Italy a. Július Torma , Czechoslovakia

International battles

• 1950 in Lodz , Poland against Czechoslovakia , S, point winner over Otto Rademacher,
• 1951 in Svit , Czechoslovakia against Poland, Hs, Disq. Winner 3rd round over Otto Rademacher,
• 1951 in Helsinki , Finland against Poland, Hs, point winner over Kuskonen,
• 1952 in Poznań , Poland against Hungary , Hs, point winner over Istvan Fazekas,
• 1952 in Wrocław , Poland against Czechoslovakia, Hs, points winner over Otto Rademacher,
• 1952 in Moscow , USSR against Poland, Hs, Disq. Defeat 2nd round against Anatoli Perow,
• 1952 in Moscow, Poland against GDR , Hs, point defeat against Ulrich Nitzschke ,
• 1952 in Moscow, Poland against Czechoslovakia, points winner over Otto Rademacher,
• 1952 in Moscow, Poland against Hungary, Hs, points winner over Istvan Farkas,
• 1952 in Warsaw , Poland against Finland, Hs, points winner over Leo Peratalo,
• 1953 in Helsinki, Finland against Poland, Hs, points winner over Sulo Manninen,
• 1954 in Budapest , Hungary against Poland, Hs, point defeat against Attila Kovacs,
• 1954 in Warsaw, Poland against Belgium , Hs, points winner over Laurent,
• 1954 in Wrocław, Poland against GDR, Hs, points winner over Hans Robak ,
• 1954 in Sofia , Bulgaria against Poland, Hs, points winner over Borislav Andrejew,
• 1954 in Sofia, Poland against USSR, Hs, point winner over Wiktor Tschernonog,
• 1954 in Sofia, Poland against GDR, Hs, points winner over Wolfgang Motzkus,
• 1954 in Sofia, Poland against Hungary, Hs, point defeat against Ferenc Szilvasi,
• 1954 in Sofia, Poland against Czechoslovakia, Hs, point defeat against Július Torma ,
• 1954 in Paris , France against Poland, Hs, point defeat against Gilbert Chapron ,
• 1955 in Prague , Czechoslovakia against Poland, Hs, point defeat against Julius Torma,
• 1956 in Nowa Huta , Poland against Hungary, Hs, points winner over Ferenc Szilvasi,
• 1956 in Poznań, Poland against FRG, Hs, points winner over Willi Kopischke ,
• 1956 in Stockholm , Sweden against Poland, Hs, techn. Knockout defeat 2nd round against Lennart Risberg ,
• 1956 in Belgrade , Yugoslavia against Poland, Hs, draw against Ahmet Bogunic,
• 1956 in Sarajevo , Yugoslavia against Poland Hs, point defeat against Ahmet Bogunic

swell

• Box Sport trade journal from 1949 to 1959,
• Box Almanach 1920 - 1980 , published by 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 Tadeusz Grzelak in Polish