Boxer Boris Lagutin is known throughout the post-Soviet space . The biography of this athlete contains both ups and downs, but there were still more victories in his career than defeats. He came to sport very young and continues to remain in it, albeit indirectly, until now. And at the beginning of his sports career, few believed in him ...
Childhood
Boris Lagutin was born on the twenty-fourth of June 1938 in Moscow. Today it belongs to the category of children of war, since its early years fell precisely on the period of the Great Patriotic War. The family of the future boxer lived on Krasnaya Presnya. In the very first days of the war, father Nikolai Borisovich Lagutin went to the front, and little Boris and his mother and grandmother remained in their native Moscow. They were not in the evacuation, and still there is no, no in the athlete’s ears, and there will be a rumble of airplanes and the sound of exploding bombs. Mother Nadezhda Gavrilovna worked as a postman, and grandmother was a worker in the manufacturing industry.
As a child, Boris Nikolaevich Lagutin was like other boys. He could sometimes hooligan, fight, tried alcohol and sometimes he could even smoke. He also loved yard games on the football and hockey fields, was known as the defender of the weak and always tried to be the first and the best: whether swimming and diving in the river, riding a horse or any other boyish business. Fights did not attract him at all.
Coming to sport
Why did boxing choose young Boris as the main occupation? What delighted him with this particular sport?
We can say that everything turned out by chance. Just once Borya and a friend saw an ad for recruitment in the boxing section and decided to sign up. Of course, such a decision of Lagutin surprised his relatives, because he was a gentle enough boy and never showed any special fighting qualities ... Yes, and Lagutin himself at first was not delighted with the training - they seemed too boring to him. In turn, the mentors from the Wings of the Soviets sports club also did not see the boxer and future champion in a frail, stooped boy. But Boris worked with a coach with a symbolic surname Trenin. Viktor Mikhailovich really proved to be an excellent teacher, in spite of everything, trying to fashion an athlete from his student.
In 1957, the Moscow boxing championship was held. According to the draw, Boris Lagutin was supposed to fight with Viktor Mednov, a participant in the Helsinki Olympics! In this fight, the young athlete proved himself more than worthy, and the coach finally saw him as a promising boxer. And when the following year, Lagutin “put on the shoulder” the champion of the Soviet Union Yuri Gromov, the last doubts were dispelled.
Being already the champion of Moscow, Boris won the Spartakiad of Peoples in 1959, and this achievement opened the way for him to the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.
First Olympiad
Although it was already clear to everyone that Boris Lagutin was a boxer from God, he had to combine his training in the late 50s with work at a defense enterprise, where he got a job as an electrical technician after graduating from the Moscow Electromechanical Institute in 1957. In such circumstances, it was difficult to prepare for the Olympics, and Lagutin understood very well that he, an employee of the defense plant, could simply not be allowed to go abroad.
But, fortunately, everything went smoothly. The Soviet nomenclature did not dare to put sticks in the wheels of a talented athlete.
And the young boxer lived up to expectations. He managed to reach the semifinals and return home with a bronze medal. In 28 fights, Lagutin won and only one point did not reach triumph in the 29th, final battle with the American Wilbert McClure.
Corporate identity formation
Returning home, Boris Lagutin immediately started training. It was impossible to rest on our laurels, but meanwhile worthy rivals of the bronze medalist “grew up” in the Union. In the weight category from 67 to 71 kg, then such athletes as Tregubov, Sobolev, Ageev, Budman, Koromyslov performed together with Lagutin ... All of them were considered very promising boxers.
Lagutin needed to get into the team of the Soviet Union, and he worked for days. For many hours in a row he "tortured" the pear, then, without a break for a shower and lunch, dragged dumbbells, and then arranged battles with a shadow.
The brutal, self-torturing school yielded its precious fruits. Boris Lagutin, whose biography was already full of brilliant accomplishments, got all the chances for even more significant victories. Over the four years between the Olympics in Rome and Tokyo, he developed his own "corporate" style, later recognized around the world. Lagutin was known as a cunning tactician who knows how to skillfully maneuver, easily navigate the ring and save power. He fought most effectively at long range, but on average and in close combat, few could resist him. Boris Nikolayevich invariably ended all his victorious battles with a corporate blow, after which the opponent went to a knockout.
Series of victories
The period from 1960 to 1964 can perhaps be called the brightest in the career of a boxer. Boris Lagutin, whose photo did not leave the editorials of sports publications, won wherever he took part. Over the years, the athlete managed to win the world championship four times and twice the European one. Naturally, at the country level, Lagutin also won the championships for four years in a row.
The hardest fight was given to him with Viktor Ageev - one of the most powerful rivals. The outcome of the battle during the championship of the Soviet Union in Khabarovsk depended on who would go to the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Boris Lagutin could not allow years of hard labor to be spent for him in vain, and laid out two hundred percent. He defeated Ageev. But he said that already at the next Olympics - Mexico - Victor would certainly go. Boris Nikolayevich perfectly understood who was in front of him and how much potential this young boxer had.
In Tokyo, the Soviet boxer, as, indeed, and our entire boxing team, was not equal. Lagutin brought home the well-deserved "gold"!
Trying to get out of big sport
After returning from Japan, the "gold" medalist was literally worn in his arms. But there was one thing that Boris Nikolaevich Lagutin could not understand: boxing, or rather, fighting in the ring is the lot of young people. A little more time will pass, and it will be necessary to look for another application in life ...
At that time, the athlete already had a diploma from the State Institute of Physical Education and could engage in coaching. After some deliberation, he accepted the offer and began to train the boys. And in parallel received a second specialty - at the Moscow State University on a biofacus. Training has faded into the background, although Lagutin continued to remain in the national team of the Soviet Union.
It is not surprising that in the course of the next fight he showed himself to be far from being such a brilliant boxer as everyone used to see him. Boris Nikolaevich put his opponent “on the shoulder”, but did it so “dirty” and unprofessionally that the judges even decided to annul the results of the battle.
This hurt Lagutin’s pride. He told himself that if he left, then not with shame. And again he pushed for training.
Most expensive title
Despite the fact that more and more fights involving Boris Nikolaevich ended in his defeat, he still managed to become the champion of the Soviet Union in 1968. Moreover, he was chosen to participate in the Olympic Games, which were held the same year in Mexico City.
During his third Olympics, Lagutin again received the “gold”, defeating the young but very talented Cuban Garbey. The legend of Soviet sports calls this fight one of the most difficult, and the title the most expensive.
After completing an athlete’s career
Having received a diploma from Moscow State University, Boris Nikolaevich Lagutin finally left the ring. First, he took the post of responsible organizer of sports in the Komsomol Central Committee, then he got a job as deputy chairman of the Spartak sports club, to whom he devoted a period of life from the 82nd to the 87th year. He performed his duties of involving children, youth and the elderly in the sports field with pleasure. Under the leadership of Lagutin, sports clubs were created throughout the country: in cities, villages and towns; in factories and factories; in dormitories and even in places not so remote.
For a certain period of time, Boris Nikolaevich led the Boxing Federation of the Soviet Union, and in 1991 created the Health and Sports Fund, which he later headed. To this day, this organization is doing everything possible to revive the physical fitness structure of Russia. Lagutin and his associates see work with children and youth as their priority task.
In 1996, a two-time Olympic champion took the position of Advisor to the President of the ISS, which works closely with the foundation. The International Confederation of Sports supports sports initiatives of youth, people with disabilities, and even participants in the Second World War.
Today Boris Nikolaevich is a frequent guest in educational institutions of Moscow and other settlements, where during meetings with pupils and students he tells them about his sports career and the importance of physical culture in human life.
Grades from colleagues and students
Boxer Lagutin is that rather rare case when huge achievements in sports are combined with high human qualities. Almost all colleagues speak positively of Boris Nikolaevich and note primarily his decency, nobility, tolerance, attentiveness to his neighbor, kindness and ability to support.
And the students say that Lagutin never put himself above his students, trying to be equal with them. He answered all questions with pleasure and laid out the battles on the shelves. In youth, the coach has always enjoyed great authority.
Boris Lagutin: personal life and family
Many eminent athletes, alas, cannot boast of success in their personal lives. Families break up due to frequent travels and endless training. But Boris Lagutin, and in this regard, everything turned out. Together with his wife Tatyana Petrovna, they managed to create a strong family and raise two wonderful weather sons - Peter and Alexander - born in 1970 and 1971.
other hobbies
For a long time Boris Nikolaevich did not have free time, devoting himself entirely to sports. But today, when such a load is no longer there, he enjoys fishing, arranges picnics with his family and friends in nature, attends various cultural events. He loves the theater very much and follows the latest in the field of dramatic art. Modern cinema does not particularly respect, believes that the pictures are shot too cruel.
Sports achivments
Could anyone think in the late 50s that in the face of a boy named Lagutin Boris boxing will receive a world-class star? Hardly ... But it happened.
Throughout his sports career, he withstood 298 fights and did not win in only eleven of them.
Lagutin is a two-time Olympic champion, and so far none of the post-Soviet athletes have been able to achieve this level.
Among the awards of Boris Nikolaevich there are such prestigious ones as the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of Friendship of Peoples and many others.
The name of this athlete is inscribed in the history of world and Soviet boxing in gold letters, but he refers to his fame somewhat condescendingly and even ironically, not considering it something significant. It is much more important to be merciful than the famous brawler, the athlete believes.
Here he is - the legend of Soviet boxing, Boris Lagutin, interesting facts from a biography of which are given in this article. A man with a steel body, iron nerves, an unbending will to win and a kind, sympathetic heart! Young people have someone to take an example!