Tarmo Uusivirta

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Uusivirta, Tarmo boxer
Data
Birth Name Uusivirta, Tarmo
Weight class medium weight
nationality Finnish
birthday 5th February 1957
place of birth Säynätsalo, Finland
Date of death December 13, 1999
Place of death Jyväskylä , Finland
style Left-hand boom
Combat Statistics
Struggles 31
Victories 24
Knockout victories 16
Defeats 4th
draw 3
Profile in the BoxRec database

Tarmo Uusivirta (born February 5, 1957 in Säynätsalo , † December 13, 1999 in Jyväskylä ) was a Finnish boxer . He was European champion in 1979 and vice- world champion in 1978 and 1982 in the middleweight division.

Career

Amateur career

Uusivirta grew up in Jyväskylä in central Finland and began boxing as a teenager at the local boxing club Jyväskylän Työvänen Nyrkkeilijät . As a junior he was Finnish champion. At the Finnish Senior Championships he started for the first time in 1976 and finished second in the middleweight division after losing points in the final fight against Arto Kohlemainen from Vaasa . He was Finnish senior champion for the first time in 1977 with a victory over Heikki Maijanen from the Viipurin Nyrkkeilijät club from Helsinki . He then won this title, always in the middleweight division, also in 1978, 1979, 1981 and 1982.

In 1977 Uusivirta also appeared for the first time at international senior championships. He started at the European Championships in Halle / Saale in the middleweight division and won a preliminary round match against Raymond Nebayer from France on points. In the last sixteen he was eliminated with a defeat against the Bulgarian Ilya Angelov and came in ninth place in the final score.

Already at the next international championship, Uusivirta caused a sensation, because he became vice middleweight world champion in Belgrade in 1978 . On the way there he defeated Robert Pfitscher from Austria , Stephan Moi from Kenya and Ilja Angelow, on which he successfully took revenge for the defeat of 1978, on points and faced the Cuban José Gómez Mustelier in the final . The experienced Gomez dominated Uusivirta throughout the fight and won the final fight clearly on points.

After winning an international boxing tournament in Lodz in 1979, where he won the final over Gheorghe Butmaru from Romania , Uusivirta continued his series of good results at the European Championships in Cologne . He presented himself there in excellent form and defeated Robert Pfitscher by breaking off in the 1st round, triumphing over Pavel Galus from the CSSR by being disqualified in the 3rd round, winning over Manfred Gebauer from the GDR by breaking off in the 2nd round and defeated in the final match Valentin Silaghi from Romania clearly with 5: 0 judges votes. He was the European amateurs champion in 1979 in the middleweight division.

Since Finland participated in the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow , Uusivirta was able to start there. However, he had to be taken out of the fight against the Polish Olympic champion from 1976 Jerzy Rybicki due to an injury in the first round of his first encounter. Before these Olympic Games, he had beaten Jerzy Rybicki in two international matches in 1979 and 1980, each on points.

At the European Championships in Tampere, home in 1981, he won in the preliminary round over the strong representative of the GDR Manfred Trauten by breaking off in the second round, but had to be taken out of the fight again because of an injury in his second fight against Valentin Silaghi.

Uusivirta came through without injury at the 1982 World Cup in Munich. On the way to the final, he won over Andreas Schroth from the GDR, Stanisław Łakomiec from Poland and Pedro van Raamsdonk from the Netherlands with 5-0 judge votes. In the final, however, he was defeated by the powerful Cuban Bernardo Comas by knockout in the third round.

This was his last fight as an amateur, because after 171 fights with 150 victories he switched to the professional boxer after this world championship.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, Wed = middleweight, then up to 75 kg body weight)

International battles

  • 1977 in Helsinki , Finland against Sweden , Wed, points winner over Ake Eriksson,
  • 1977 in Lodz , Poland against Finland, Wed, points winner over Paweł Skrzecz ,
  • 1978 in Helsinki, Finland against Poland, Wed, points winner over Wiesław Niemkiewicz ,
  • 1979 in Slupsk , Poland against Finland, Wed, points winner over Jerzy Rybicki ,
  • 1979 in Budapest , Hungary against Finland, Wed, demolition winner 3rd round over Laszlo Perm,
  • 1979 in Miskolc , Hungary against Finland, Wed, demolition winner 1st round over Istvan Pinter,
  • 1980 in Helsinki, Finland against Hungary, Wed, points winner over Jerzy Rybicki

Finnish championships

  • 1976, 2nd place, Wed, behind Arto Kohlemainen,
  • 1977, 1st place, Wed, in front of Heikki Maijanen,
  • 1978, 1st place, Wed, in front of Jorma Saukoniemi,
  • 1979, 1st place, Wed, ahead of Heikki Maijanen,
  • 1981, 1st place, Wed, in front of Vesa Wilkman,
  • 1982, 1st place, Wed, in front of Kai Helenius

Profile career

In the spring of 1982 Uusivirta signed a professional contract with Edwin Ahlquist. He then denied on June 25, 1982 in Hanko , Finland, against the Jamaican Mick Morris his first professional fight, which he won over six rounds on points. He also won his next three fights. He suffered his first defeat on November 5, 1983 in Mannheim when he lost on points to Dick Katende from Uganda after eight rounds. After this fight Uusivirta moved to manager Olof Johansson.

This intended to bring Uusivirta big in the United States and referred him to Angelo Dundee , the trainer of Muhammad Ali , who should train and manage Uusivirta. On May 11, 1984, he fought in New York against the unbeaten American Mike Holt in eleven fights and lost this fight after eight rounds on points. After this defeat he returned to Finland.

After another five wins in 1985 and 1986, Uusivirta then sought a fight for the European super middleweight championship. In the decisive qualifying fights for this championship he fought on March 26, 1986 in Amsterdam against the Dutchman Alex Blanchard and lost on points on December 26, 1986 in Bern against the Swiss Enrico Scacchia .

After he had won another five fights in 1987 and 1988, he finally got the chance on December 12, 1988 in Helsinki against Alex Blanchard for the IBF European Super Middleweight Championship to box. This fight ended in a draw. For the judges, the main reason why he was not awarded victory was that Uusivirta had to hit the ground in the 11th round after hooking his head.

On October 22, 1991 Uusivirta, whose new manager Simo Rantalainen tried unsuccessfully for a fight against the German IBF world champion Graciano Rocchigiani , got another chance in London to box for the EBU European title in the super middleweight division. However , he lost in the seventh round through a technical knockout against the colored, Jamaica-born Englishman James Cook . On April 5, 1992 Uusivirta denied his last fight in Seinäjoki , in which he won on points over the American Shannon Landberg.

In his professional career, Uusivirta won 24 out of 31 fights. But he was denied the great success.

After boxing

In 1993 Uusivirta got a job with the city fire brigade in Jyväskylä . Due to alcohol problems, he lost his driver's license and his job was also at risk. Uusivirta committed suicide on December 13, 1999.

literature

  • Box Sport trade journal from 1976 to 1999

Web links

  • Tarmo Uusivirta in the BoxRec database
  • Website "www.amateur-boxing.strefa.pl"
  • Website "www.sport-komplett.de"
  • Website "sports123.com"
personal data
SURNAME Uusivirta, Tarmo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish boxer
DATE OF BIRTH 5th February 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Säynätsalo , Finland
DATE OF DEATH December 13, 1999
Place of death Jyväskylä , Finland