Nikolai Fyodorovich Korolev

Nikolai Fyodorovich Korolev (14 March 1917, Moscow - 12 March 1974, Moscow) was a Soviet boxer and trainer. Korolev was the nine time heavyweight champion of the USSR.

Biography

Born in Moscow in 1917, Korolev began working at the Neftegaz factory there after graduating from school.

He began his route towards major sporting success in 1933, under the leadership of Ivan Stepanovich Bogayev - one of the pioneers of Soviet boxing. Soon Korolev entered the Stalin Technical School of Physical Culture and began to train, first under Konstantin Gradopolova and then under Arkady Georgevich Kharlampiev.

On 22 October 1936, at the Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, Korolev first became the Absolute Champion of the USSR. Korolev's opponent was the very strong and experienced Victor Mikhailovich. After six three-minute rounds, Korolev became the foremost pugilist in the Soviet Union. In 1937 he triumphed at the Workers' Olympiad in Antwerp, knocking out two opponents in the first round.

Korolev graduated as a trainer, receiving one of the first such diplomas in the Soviet Union.

In 1939 Korolev was called up for military service. He became a student at a school for fighter pilots. However because of a plane accident in which he received heavy injuries, Korolev was forced to leave military service.

During World War II Korolev served in the detachment of Hero of the Soviet Union Colonel Dmitry Medvedev. He twice carried an injured Medvedev from the battlefield. After the war Korolev served in the Northern Fleet for more than a decade.

In 1944 Korolev returned to the ring. In a difficult bout with Evgeny Ogurenkov he regained the title of Absolute Champion of the Soviet Union, and in 1945 repeated this achievement. In 1946 Korolev won international tournaments in Helsinki and Prague.

Korolev died on 12 March 1974, and is buried in the Vvedenskoye Cemetery in Moscow.

Sporting Achievements

• Won 206 out of 219 matches, with 19 matches in international bouts
• 9 time heavyweight champion of the USSR (1936–1953)
• 4 time absolute champion of the USSR (1936–1937 and 1944–1945)
• Winner of the 1937 Workers' Olympiad in Antwerp
• Winner of international tournaments in Helsinki and Prague (1946)

Awards

• Order of the Red Banner
• Order of the Red Banner of Labour
• Medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War"
• Merited Master of Sport of the USSR (1942)

Memorials

• In Bryansk an International (formerly All-Union) boxing memorial tournament was created in the name of Korolev. The first tournament was held in 1974, and after a hiatus from 1985 they resumed in 2002.
• In 1977 the Soviet Ministry of Communications issued an illustrated envelope to mark 60 years since the birth of Korolev

External links

• Article about Korolev from East Side Boxing