Zsolt Erdei

Zsolt Erdei
Data
Birth Name	Zsolt Erdei
Fight name	Madár
Weight class	Light heavyweight
nationality	Hungarian
birthday	May 31, 1974
place of birth	Budapest
style	Left delivery
size	1.78 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	35
Victories	34
Knockout victories	18th
Defeats	1

Zsolt Erdei medal table
Boxing
Hungary
Olympic games
bronze	2000	medium weight
World championships
gold	1997	medium weight
European championships
gold	2000	medium weight
gold	1998	medium weight
silver	1996	medium weight

Zsolt Erdei [ ˈʒolt ˈɛrdɛ.i ] (born May 31, 1974 in Budapest , Hungary ) is a former Hungarian boxer . From January 2004 to November 2009 he was WBO world light heavyweight champion and from November 2009 to January 2010 WBC world cruiserweight champion.

Among the amateurs, Erdei was among other things junior European champion in 1992 in the light middleweight division, as well as vice-European champion in 1996, European champion in 1998 and 2000, world champion in 1997 and third in the Olympics in 2000.

Amateur career

Zsolt Erdei won 212 of 232 amateur fights. In 1992 he won the light middleweight championships in Edinburgh and the Balaton Cup in Siófok , where he was able to defeat the later Asian champion Dilshod Yorbekov and the later world champion Yevgeny Makarenko . At the Junior World Championships in Montreal in 1992 , he was eliminated in the round of 16 with just 10:12 against the later silver medalist Sergei Ismailow.

At the European Championships in 1993 in Bursa, he lost the fight for a medal place against the reigning vice world champion Akın Kuloğlu and also started at the 1995 World Championships in Berlin , where he was able to defeat the later Olympic champion Jermachan Ybrajymow in the preliminary round before he in the second fight against the reigning European champion Dirk Eigenbrodt was eliminated. In October 1995 he also won the Tammer tournament in Tampere .

At the European Championships in Vejle in 1996 , he defeated the reigning vice-world champion Tomasz Borowski , the Olympian Ľudovít Plachetka and the later world and Olympic champion Alexander Lebsjak , before he lost 3-1 to Sven Ottke in the final and became vice-European champion. In addition, he won the Acropolis Cup in Athens in 1996 and started at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta , where he was eliminated in the round of 16 just 8: 9 against the later silver medalist Malik Beyleroğlu .

In 1997 he won the gold medal at the world championships held in his native Budapest . He beat Murat Sultanow, Andrejs Barabanovs, Dilshod Yorbekov, Dirk Eigenbrodt and in the final the reigning world and Olympic champion Ariel Hernández . In March 1998 he won the Chemistry Cup in Halle and in May 1998 the European Championships in Minsk , where he was able to defeat Mchitar Wanessyan and the Commonwealth Champion Andrew Lowe, as well as the two Olympians Jean-Paul Mendy and Brian Magee .

In March 1999 he won the Czech Grand Prix of Ústí by beating Piotr Wilczewski in the final and took part in the World Championships in Houston in August , where he was eliminated in the preliminary round with 5: 6 against Asian champions Vyacheslav Burba.

In May 2000 he won the European Championships in Tampere by beating Dimitri Serdjoek, Ivan Ribać, Oleksandr Zubrihin and Stjepan Božić . He then took part in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney , where he was able to beat Wladislaw Wissilter and again Oleksandr Zubrihin before he was eliminated in the semifinals against the later silver medalist Gaidarbek Gaidarbekow with a bronze medal.

Professional career

Erdei became a professional at Universum Box-Promotion in Germany and made his debut on December 5, 2000. He was trained by Fritz Sdunek and Artur Grigoryan . By August 2002 he won each of his twelve fights, eight of them prematurely. He also managed to win against the American Anthony Stephens, world championship challenger of the IBF in 1993, 1997 and 1998.

On October 5, 2002 he defeated the South African champion Jim Murray by knockout and thereby became WBO Intercontinental Champion. The following month he defended the title early against Juan Giménez from Paraguay, World Cup challenger of the WBC from 1992 and 1994, and World Cup challenger of the WBO from 1992 and 1998. In March and July 2003, he won two further title defenses against the Brazilian José Santos and the Italian Massimiliano Saiani. In September 2003 he won his fourth title defense unanimously on points against the Spanish champion and WBA intercontinental champion Juan Nélongo.

On January 17, 2004 he boxed for the WBO world light heavyweight title and defeated the Mexican Julio González , who had won the title on October 18, 2003 by beating the until then undefeated Dariusz Michalczewski , unanimously on points. He became, after István Kovács , only the second Hungarian professional boxing world champion. By January 2009 he was able to defend the title eleven times, including twice against the Argentine Hugo Garay , the former French WBA world champion Mehdi Sahnoune and the two European champions Thomas Ulrich and Juri Baraschian.

As a new challenge, Erdei then rose to the next higher weight class, the cruiserweight and dethroned the Italian WBC world champion Giacobbe Fragomeni in his first fight on November 21, 2009 , making him the first Hungarian professional boxing world champion in two weight classes. However, he resigned the title on January 13, 2010 without having defended it. In the same year the separation from Universe followed. Jürgen Brähmer, who is also under contract with Universum, became the new WBO light heavyweight world champion in November 2009 .

He defeated Samson Onyango in 2010 and Byron Mitchell in 2011 , before suffering a narrow defeat against Russia's Denis Grachev in 2013. On March 8, 2011 he played the last fight of his career in Hungary, in which he was still WBO European champion by beating Georgian Shalva Jomardashvili.

After boxing

In 2017 Erdei was elected President of the Hungarian Boxing Association.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Zsolt Erdei, Paffen Sport
2. ↑ Junior European Championships 1992
3. ↑ Balaton Cup 1992
4. ↑ Junior World Championships 1992
5. ↑ European Championships 1993
6. ↑ World Championships 1995
7. ↑ Tammer tournament 1995
8. ↑ European Championships 1996
9. ^ Acropolis Cup 1996
10. ↑ 1996 Olympic Games
11. ↑ World Championships 1997
12. ^ Chemistry Cup 1998
13. ↑ European Championships 1998
14. ↑ Grand Prix Usti 1999
15. ↑ World Championships 1999
16. ↑ European Championships 2000
17. ↑ 2000 Olympic Games
18. ↑ Erdei Zsolt, a great champion of the ring to Hungary's guide

Web links

• Zsolt Erdei in the BoxRec database

predecessor	Office	successor
Julio González	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) January 17, 2004 - November 13, 2009	Jürgen Brähmer
Giacobbe Fragomeni	Cruiserweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) November 22, 2009 - January 22, 2010	Krzysztof Włodarczyk