It has been 43 years since the victory of the Uzbek living legend Riskiev Rufat at the first world championship among amateur boxers held in Havana thundered around the world. Cuba hosted the best boxers in 1974, among whom was Riskiev.
Looking ahead a little, it is gratifying for such a titled athlete, because on his 65th birthday, the National Olympic Committee (NOC) decided to overhaul his home. House of "Tashkent tiger". That is what Rufat was called in the seventies all over the world. The reason for this was his brilliant victory at the world championship.
Unfortunately, not all famous athletes in the past can boast of a calm old age, which they live in abundance. A few years ago, Rufat's pension was about $40. We can say that Riskiev was very lucky, as his pension was increased. Friends, relatives, and decent employees of the Ministry of Culture and Sports helped, and thanks to the efforts of the district security council, the pension of the former boxer was counted upwards. As Rufat Riskiev himself admitted, he was especiallyI am grateful to the Moscow archivists who found the lost documents about his work. The head of the NOC, Mirabror Usmanov, also helps him in many ways, and now, in particular, he organized the repair of Riskiev's house, spending about $15,000. As a result, the ex-world champion was able to celebrate the anniversaries of his life in a normal house. This is how the legendary Rufat Riskiev lives today.
Biography of the famous boxer
And it all started back in 1949, when Rufat was born on October 2 in the small town of Akkurgan. His father Asad Riskiev was a local doctor. However, he was destined not to follow in his father's footsteps, but to soar to the fantastic heights of life. Today, his name stands next to famous boxers of all peoples and times, such as Theophilus Stevenson, Mohammed Ali, Laszlo Papp, Boris Lagutin, Joe Frazier and other legends of world boxing.
For the first time, Rufat stepped into the boxing ring at the age of twelve. Like any boy, he dreamed of victories and beautiful fights. Riskiev's first coach was Sidney Jackson. He had his own view on how the future boxer should start his journey, and therefore Rufat was able to try on boxing gloves only a few months after the start of training.
Rufat had an older brother, who by this time had already become quite a famous boxer. After two years of training with Jaxon, Alisher Riskiev invited his brother Rufat to the Burevestnik sports society. To the sports section in which he trained himself.
Rufat made his debut in 1966year, when he won the city championship in boxing among teenagers as part of the Burevestnik team. Boxing experts immediately noticed a young talented young man who demonstrated not only beautiful boxing, but also smart. They prophesied a great future for him.
Becoming a great athlete
The real story of the greatest boxer started from the moment when Rufat met with the new coach, Granatkin. Boris Granatkin believed that without sacrificing for the sake of boxing all his interests without exception, one would not reach the heights of mastery. Rufat Riskiev shared these views, and, no doubt, this helped him a lot in the future. Granatkin gave Rufat all his knowledge, and they learned the rest together at competitions. Interestingly, they both valued defeat just as much as victory.
After Rufat knocked out the Cuban Silvio Quesalo at the very beginning of the fight at the 1968 tournament "Olympic Hope", the Polish coach Felix Stamm, who was present there, advised the coach of the Soviet national team Alexander Kapustkin to take him to the national team of the country. Kapustkin could not ignore the words of the legendary coach, "Papa Stamm", who, by the way, owns the famous phrase: "A boxer must have a warm heart, a cold head, light legs, and only after that - fast hands." So boxer Rufat Riskiev got into the national team.
The young boxer was distinguished by his own style of fighting, skillfully combining classic techniques with techniques developed over the past decades by famousboxers. His fights have always stood out for their beauty, in harmony with strength.
First victories are especially valuable
And so, in 1968 in Lviv, he became the champion of the country among youth.
After two years, Riskiev became an "adult fighter". Now in front of him in the ring were the strongest fighters not only in our country, but also abroad. But Rufat was always confident in himself and was ready to fight at any time and with anyone. In the same year, at the international tournament in Yugoslavia, he won a gold medal.
Rufat performed in the category of 75 kilograms from the sports society "Dynamo" of Uzbekistan. Riskiev becomes the strongest in his weight after the 1971 Spartakiad and holds this title for many years. He was Europe's first glove until 1976 in the middleweight division.
World fame
June 17, 1973 entered the history of world sports as the opening of the very first international championship among amateur boxers in Cuba. Of the 263 athletes representing 45 countries, it was Rufat Riskiev who won the gold of the champion, but at the same time crippled his hand. He was nominated for the title of "Honored Master of Sports", received memorable gifts and even the right not to purchase a Volga car out of turn. True, he did not have that kind of money at that time.
The only one of all the boxers of our team, Rufat was able to get into the finals of the XXI Olympic Games. But fate gave him only silver. He could not become the first, but as a result of gossip and rumors, smirks of mediocre boxers and the creation of artificial isolation. Silver is not gold, butenvious people are evil and merciless.
Retirement from boxing
Rufat Riskiev retired from boxing himself. He left the undefeated champion of the Soviet Union and the silver medalist of the Olympics.
It is not surprising that when Mohammed Ali arrived in Tashkent in 1979, despite the “bread and s alt”, girls and pioneers with flowers, he wanted to see exactly Rafat Riskiev. And the famous boxer has long been forgotten and not even invited. But I had to remember that there is such Rufat Riskiev.
Boxing is an amazing sport. Riskiev was loved even by the fans of those foreign boxers whom he, in fact, came to beat! He demonstrated such beautiful and bright boxing in his performances.
A film about Rufat Riskiev
But, in fairness, it should be noted that the domestic cinema even released a film about the famous boxer - "Called to the ring …". It is noteworthy that with a huge abundance of actors, they could not find anyone for the main role, except for Rufat himself. Yes, it was Riskiev who starred in this film, and at the festival of sports tapes in the city of Frunze, in 1980, this film took second place. Rufat was awarded the prize for the best performance of a male role. Later, Rufat starred in several more films, but left the cinema, admitting that this was "not his" …
In 1997, Rufat became the first referee of the WBA and the international category of Central Asian professional sports.
It was all a long time ago. Glory passes, and passes gray and casual. No one came with gratitude to the former teacherand legendary mentor on his 60th birthday. There were no flowers, no speeches. Rufat was even surprised that the local newspaper suddenly remembered him.
For a little over thirty years of sports career, Rufat Riskiev had about 200 fights, of which he won 174. More recently, he was vice-president of the Uzbekistan Professional Boxing Federation.
Now Riskiev Rufat Asadovich is an ordinary pensioner.
