 |
Georgiy KandelakiGeorgian professional boxer, world and European champion
Date of Birth: 10.04.1974
Country:  Georgia |
Content:
Biography of Georgi Kandelaki
Georgi Kandelaki, a Georgian professional boxer, was born on April 10, 1974, in the village of Variani in the Gori district of Georgia. He started his boxing training under the guidance of his father, Tarash Kandelaki. In his childhood, Georgi was not particularly fond of boxing, and his main hobbies were hunting and fishing. His father set a condition for Georgi that if he trained diligently for a week, he would take him hunting or fishing on Sundays. Soon, Kandelaki started to enjoy boxing and began achieving numerous victories at the youth level.
In April 1989, Kandelaki took third place in the USSR Junior Championship in the light heavyweight category. This achievement earned him an invitation to the USSR Junior National Team. In 1992, Georgi, competing under the flag of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), became the world champion among juniors in the heavyweight category.
Amateur Career
One of Georgi's major victories in his adult amateur career was winning a silver medal at the 1993 World Championships in the heavyweight category. Although he reached the final with confidence, he lost to the reigning Olympic champion, Felix Savon from Cuba. In the same year, Kandelaki became the European champion. It should be noted that in 1992 and 1993, Georgi periodically traveled to Japan and participated in mixed martial arts fights.
At the 1995 World Championships, Kandelaki faced Savon again in the quarterfinals. Once again, Georgi was unable to match the renowned opponent and lost on points. In 1996, Georgi Kandelaki participated in the Summer Olympics in Atlanta in the heavyweight category. In his first fight, he faced Thompson Garcia from Ecuador. The fight was heavily dominated by Georgi, and after the second round, with a score of 15:1, the Ecuadorian refused to continue. In the second round, Kandelaki fought against Wojciech Bartnik from Poland. The fight went the distance, and Georgi won with a score of 6:1. In the quarterfinals, Kandelaki once again faced his main rival, Felix Savon. Georgi fought on equal terms with the renowned opponent for half of the fight, but then the Cuban rapidly started earning points and eventually won convincingly with a score of 20:4. Georgi Kandelaki also had the honor of carrying the flag of Georgia at the opening ceremony of the games.
Realizing that competing with Savon was impossible, Georgi, on the advice of his coach Zurab Gunia, decided to change weight categories and move to the super heavyweight division. In 1997, at the World Championships in Budapest, Kandelaki made his debut in the new weight category and became the World Champion on his first attempt. In the final, he defeated Alexis Rubalcaba from Cuba, who had previously knocked out the reigning world champion, Alexey Lezin from Russia.
Professional Career
After that world championship, Georgi ended his amateur career and turned professional. Starting from 1998, Kandelaki began participating in professional ranking fights in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Russia. In his professional career, Georgi had 24 fights, winning 18 of them by knockout. In December 2001, due to an eye injury, Georgi Kandelaki postponed his plans and returned to Georgia. On December 21, 2002, he fought a twelve-round match in St. Petersburg against Alexander Vasilyev for the WBU (World Boxing Union) World Super Heavyweight Championship. In this fight, Georgi aggravated his eye injury. Eventually, Kandelaki had to undergo emergency surgery in Germany. After the surgery, doctors prohibited him from continuing his boxing career. However, on October 17, 2003, he defended his championship title against Alexey Osokin, who fought under the pseudonym Richard Steiger, and won by knockout. This fight became the last in Kandelaki's career, and in early 2004, he regained his championship title.
Political Activity
Georgi Kandelaki first became close to the head of Adjara, Aslan Abashidze. He organized a ranking fight for Kandelaki on August 21, 1999, against Kimmuel Odum at the central stadium in Batumi. After his victory, Georgi met with Aslan Abashidze at his residence and presented him with the boxing gloves with which he knocked out his opponent in the first round. When Georgi returned to Georgia in January 2002, he was invited to become a member of the political party "For a New Georgia." At the same time, Kandelaki was elected President of the Georgian Amateur Boxing Federation. In 2003, parliamentary elections were scheduled in Georgia, and Kandelaki was one of the key figures in the pre-election race. The movement "For a New Georgia" took first place in the voting, and Kandelaki was supposed to secure a seat in parliament. However, this was hindered by the "Rose Revolution" that took place.
