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Andrey KulebinBelarusian Thai boxer
Date of Birth: 14.05.1984
Country:  Belarus |
Content:
Biography of Andrey Kulebin
Andrey Kulebin was born on May 14, 1984, in Germany, to a military family. When he was one and a half years old, his family moved to the village of Gatovo near Minsk. He started practicing combat sports at the age of 9. His first significant achievement in sports was earning a black belt in taekwondo. At the age of 12, upon his request, Andrey's father took him to the "Kick Fighter" club, where he trained under the renowned coach of Belarus, Yevgeny Kotelnikov. Some of his fellow athletes at the club were Dmitry Shakuta, Alexey Pekarchik, and Vasily Shish.
Sporting Career
Andrey Kulebin had a successful amateur career, starting from 2001. He won a bronze medal at the World Muay Thai Championship and went on to become a three-time consecutive world champion in the same discipline (under the WMF version, which was called IAMTF before 2004). He also won gold medals twice at the WAKO World Championships in kickboxing. During this period, Kulebin moved up in weight classes, starting from the lightest and eventually reaching the lightweight category.
In 1999, Kulebin began competing as a professional boxer. Notably, he defeated a promising fighter from Ukraine, Bogdan Lukin, in 2002 (who later became a four-time world champion). In 2004, by defeating American Raul Lopez, Andrey won his first professional championship title according to the WKN version. A year later, he won his second title in a higher weight category by defeating Jalal Eshauhshi. In December 2005, Kulebin was invited to Bangkok for a festival celebrating the birthday of the King of Thailand. However, he lost the fight for the WPMF lightweight title to Rudolf Durica, considering it one of the most challenging fights of his career.
From 2006 onwards, Kulebin's professional career started to flourish. He won the Hong Kong I-1 Grand Prix three times in a row, organized by the WMC, the world's largest Muay Thai federation. He had rematches with Rudolf Durica, whom he successfully avenged, and fought three times against renowned Thai fighter Santichai O. Bunchuai. These victories brought him worldwide recognition as one of the strongest welterweight fighters on the planet.
Kulebin also achieved success in amateur competitions, consistently placing in international tournaments. The year 2007 was particularly successful for him, as he won both the IFMA and WMF World Championships in Muay Thai, as well as the WAKO World Championships in kickboxing. In 2008, Andrey became the first Belarusian Muay Thai fighter to receive the title of Honored Master of Sports.
In 2009, Kulebin faced some challenges. He suffered an injury in the quarterfinals of the I-1 Grand Prix, which prevented him from participating in the final fight. However, in June, he managed to win the most prestigious title of his career, the WMC championship belt, by defeating the peak-form Dutch fighter Mosab Amrani. In September, Kulebin became the winner of the Big-8 Grand Prix held in Minsk (under the WKN). In November 2009, he won the WMC World Championship title in a higher weight category by knocking out Michael Dix. As a result of his achievements, Kulebin won the "Fighter of the Year" award from the prestigious Golden Belt Association, surpassing the Cup of the King of Thailand winner Cosmo Alessandri.
