Georgi Kandelaki

Georgi Kandelaki
Born	(1974-04-10) April 10, 1974 (age 50) Variani, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union
Boxing record
Total fights	24
Wins	24
Wins by KO	18
Losses	0
Draws	0
Medal record Men's amateur boxing Representing  CIS Junior World Championships 1992 Montreal Heavyweight Representing  Georgia World Championships 1993 Tampere Heavyweight 1997 Budapest Super Heavyweight World Cup 1994 Bangkok Heavyweight European Championships 1993 Bursa Heavyweight

Georgi Kandelaki (Georgian: გიორგი კანდელაკი; born 10 April 1974) is a Georgian former boxer and current boxing administrator. He competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics, at the 1997 World Amateur Boxing Championships he became the first Georgian to win a World Championship,^[1] and from 2002 to 2003 held the World Boxing Union heavyweight title.

Early life

Kandelaki was born in the village of Variani^[2] and was introduced to boxing by his father, Tarash Kandelaki.^[1] In 1991, he completed Variani secondary school, and went on to study at the Gori State University Economics Department.^[1]

Amateur career

In 1992 Kandelaki won the Junior World Championships in the heavyweight class, and in 1993 he won the European Championships and reached the final of the World Championships, where he lost by default to Félix Savón.

In the 1995 World Championships, he reached the quarter-finals having beaten Friday Ahunanya, and again lost by default to Félix Savón.

Representing Georgia at the 1996 Summer Olympics, he defeated Thompson Garcia and Wojciech Bartnik before losing to Félix Savón in the quarter-finals. In the European Championships the same year, he lost to Christophe Mendy in the quarter-finals.

In 1997, he fought in the super heavyweight class in the World Championships, and defeated Vitali Boot, Petr Horáček, Jean-Francois Bergeron and Sergei Liakhovich to reach the final, where he won the title against Alexis Rubalcaba.

Highlights

Soviet Junior Tournament (81 kg), April 1989: (no data available) International Junior Tournament (91 kg), Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, December 1990: 1/2: Defeated Tomasz Bonin (Poland) RSC 1 Finals: Defeated Nikolay Pyatakov (RSFSR) by unanimous decision, 5–0 Ahmet Comert Tournament (91 kg), Istanbul, Turkey, May 1992: (no data available) Junior World Championships (91 kg), Montreal, Canada, September-October 1992: 1/8: Defeated Robert Geer (United States) 7–0 1/4: Defeated Ismael Kone (Sweden) 11–1 1/2: Defeated Peer Mueller (Germany) 6–4 Finals: Defeated Stephen Gallinger (Canada) 19–2 World Championships (91 kg), Tampere, Finland, May 1993: 1/8: Defeated Bert Teuchert (Germany) 10–9 1/4: Defeated Mikael Höök (Sweden) 7–0 1/2: Defeated Arshak Avartakyan (Armenia) 7–2 Finals: Lost to Félix Savón (Cuba) by walkover European Championships (91 kg), Bursa, Turkey, September 1993: 1/16: Defeated Peter Saat (Estonia) 8–1 1/8: Defeated Fyodor Mishko (Belarus) 9–2 1/4: Defeated Fikret Güneş (Turkey) 4–2 1/2: Defeated Georgios Stefanopoulos (Greece) 7–4 Finals: Defeated Don Diego Poeder (Netherlands) 11–2 Chemistry Cup (91 kg), Halle, Germany, March 1994: 1/2: Lost to Jan Bezvoda (Czech Republic) 1–3 World Cup (91 kg), Bangkok, Thailand, June 1994: 1/4: Defeated Friday Ahunanya (Nigeria) 6–4 1/2: Lost to Félix Savón (Cuba) 4–19

Chemistry Cup (+91 kg), Halle, Germany, March 1995: 1/2: Defeated Timo Hoffmann (Germany) 11–1 Finals: Lost to Vitali Klitschko (Ukraine) by walkover World Championships (91 kg), Berlin, Germany, May 1995: 1/8: Defeated Jonas Dambrauskas (Lithuania) 4–2 1/4: Lost to Félix Savón (Cuba) by walkover 100th Anniversary Tournament (91 kg), Moscow, Russia, October 1995: Finals: Defeated Sergey Sosnin (Russia) by unanimous decision, 5–0 Strandzha Cup (91 kg), Sofia, Bulgaria, February 1996: 1/4: Defeated Oleg Belikov (Ukraine) 5–2 1/2: Lost to Christophe Mendy (France) RET 2 European Championships (91 kg), Vejle, Denmark, March-April 1996: 1/16: Defeated Gioacchino Mocerino (Italy) 10–6 1/8: Defeated Sergey Dychkov (Belarus) 7–4 1/4: Lost to Christophe Mendy (France) 2–7 Summer Olympics (91 kg), Atlanta, Georgia, July 1996: 1/16: Defeated Thompson García (Ecuador) RET 3 1/8: Defeated Wojciech Bartnik (Poland) 6–1 1/4: Lost to Félix Savón (Cuba) 4–20 (Kandelaki was given a standing eight count at 0:54 of the 3rd rd) Tammer Tournament (+91 kg), Tampere, Finland, September 1997: 1/4: Defeated Rimantas Prišmantas (Lithuania) 3–0 1/4: Lost to Patrick Halberg (Denmark) 1–6 World Championships (+91 kg), Budapest, Hungary, October 1997: 1/16: Defeated Vitali Boot (Germany) 4–2 (5 rds) 1/8: Defeated Petr Horáček (Czech Republic) RSCI 4 1/4: Defeated Jean-François Bergeron (Canada) 7–3 (5 rds) 1/2: Defeated Sergey Lyakhovich (Belarus) 5–3 (5 rds) Finals: Defeated Alexis Rubalcaba (Cuba) 4–1 (5 rds)

Professional career

In 1998, Kandelaki started boxing as a professional for Panix Promotions. In 2002, he won the World Boxing Union heavyweight title. In 2003, he retired unbeaten because of an eye injury.^[3]

Retirement and later life

After his boxing career, Kandelaki founded the Georgian Professional Boxing Association and became its president.^[3][4][5] He trained boys as boxers in his home village of Variani and other villages.^[2] He was mentioned in the book The President, the World Champion and I by Lali Moroshkina.^[6]

Professional boxing record

24 fights	24 wins	0 losses
By knockout	18	0

24 Wins (18 knockouts, 6 decisions)[7]
No.	Result	Billed Wgt	Opponent	Opp Wgt	Opp Record	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
24	Win	238	Alexey Osokin	227	11–17–1	TKO	3 (6)	17 Oct 2003	Sports Palace, Tbilisi, Georgia
23	Win	237½	Alexander Vasiliev	223	15–9–1	TKO	12 (12)	21 Dec 2002	Yubileyny Sports Palace, Saint Petersburg, Russia	for vacant WBU heavyweight title
22	Win	?	Eric French	?	10–24–3	TKO	1 (6)	21 Sep 2002	Circus, Kyiv, Ukraine
21	Win	240	Derek McCafferty	246	2–6–0	RTD	5 (8), 3:00	25 May 2002	Mountbatten Centre, Portsmouth, Hampshire, United Kingdom
20	Win	236½	Alexey Varakin	218½	17–9–2	TKO	1 (8), 2:10	2 Mar 2002	York Hall, Bethnal Green, London, United Kingdom
19	Win	243¾	Alexey Osokin	236	9–13–1	UD	6 (6)	20 Dec 2001	Giant Hall, Casino Conti, Saint Petersburg, Russia
18	Win	?	Ilia Tlashadze	?	3–0–0	KO	3	23 Oct 2001	Variani, Georgia
17	Win	233½	Sam Ubokane	226¾	9–1–0	TKO	4 (6)	29 Jan 2001	Bushfield Leisure Centre, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
16	Win	?	Joey Guy	?	27–3–0	TKO	4 (8)	26 Oct 2000	Sports Palace, Tbilisi, Georgia
15	Win	231	Harry Senior	?	7–8–1	PTS	8 (8)	13 Jul 2000	York Hall, Bethnal Green, London, United Kingdom
14	Win	225	Rodney McSwain	218	7–11–0	PTS	6 (6)	29 Apr 2000	The Arena, Wembley, London, United Kingdom
13	Win	220	Antoine Palatis	227¼	27–10–2	PTS	8 (8)	21 Feb 2000	Elephant & Castle Centre, Southwark, London, United Kingdom	80–73
12	Win	235¾	Derek McCafferty	238	2–2–0	PTS	8 (8)	18 Dec 1999	Elephant & Castle Centre, Southwark, London, United Kingdom	80–73
11	Win	228	Mark Young	242	14–36–1	KO	2 (8)	8 Oct 1999	Sports Palace, Tbilisi, Georgia
10	Win	224¾	Kimmuel Odum	220	17–29–1	TKO	1 (8)	21 Aug 1999	Batumi, Georgia
9	Win	226½	Spas Spasov	211	7–6–0	TKO	1 (8), 0:37	15 Jul 1999	Werrington Sports Centre, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
8	Win	225¾	Yuriy Yelistratov	226¼	19–10–1	KO	1 (6), 1:44	22 Jun 1999	Corn Exchange, Ipswich, Suffolk, United Kingdom
7	Win	228¾	Emile Ramon	224¾	4–4–0	TKO	1 (6), 2:31	22 May 1999	Maysfield Leisure Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
6	Win	230½	Laszlo Paszterko	219¼	15–31–4	TKO	2 (6), 0:59	24 Apr 1999	Planet Ice Rink, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
5	Win	231½	Johnny Davison	203	0–9–0	TKO	2 (6), 2:09	6 Mar 1999	Elephant & Castle Centre, Southwark, London, United Kingdom
4	Win	231¾	Ladislav Husarik	273	5–19–1	PTS	6 (6)	6 Feb 1999	North Bridge Leisure Centre, Halifax, Yorkshire, United Kingdom	60–55
3	Win	231	Jean Marie Naandu	201	4–9–0	KO	1 (6), 1:23	12 Dec 1998	Northgate Arena, Chester, Cheshire, United Kingdom
2	Win	234¾	Steven Archie	241	debut	TKO	2 (4)	26 Sep 1998	Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville, Connecticut, USA
1	Win	242½	Shane Woollas	232	8–10–0	TKO	2 (4), 2:53	2 Jul 1998	Corn Exchange, Ipswich, Suffolk, United Kingdom

Mixed martial arts record

Professional record breakdown

0 matches

0 wins

0 losses

Res.	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Win	2-2	Mitsuya Nagai	KO	RINGS - Mega Battle Tournament 1993: Second Round	November 18, 1993	1	7:19	Tokyo, Japan
Loss	1-2	Yoshihisa Yamamoto	Decision	RINGS - Battle Dimension: Osaka Metropolitan Circuit II	July 13, 1993	5	3:00	Nagoya, Japan
Win	1-1	Vladimir Kravchuk	KO	RINGS - Mega Battle Tournament 1992: Semi-Finals	December 19, 1992	2	1:38	Tokyo, Japan
Loss	0-1	Hans Nijman	KO	RINGS - Mega Battle Tournament 1992: First Round	October 29, 1992	4	0:35	Nagoya, Japan

References

1. Kapanadze, Eliso (11 February 2001). "The Next Round". Magticom. Retrieved 12 October 2010.
2. "Children's Dream Is to Be World Champions in Boxing". News. IRC-Georgia. Retrieved 12 October 2010.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
3. Persson, Per Ake (7 July 2006). "Q & A: George Kandelaki". Interview. East Side Boxing. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2010.
4. "EBU - Affiliated Federations". EBU. Archived from the original on 20 June 2011. Retrieved 12 October 2010.
5. "Boxing Promoters!". Joe Stack. Archived from the original on 16 February 2010. Retrieved 12 October 2010.
6. Gvazava, Rusudan (7 September 2009). "The President, the World Champion and I - Lali Moroshkina reveals unknown details about Mikheil Saakashvili and her ex-sweetheart Giorgi Kandelaki". Georgian Times. Georgian Times Media Holding. Archived from the original on 24 October 2010. Retrieved 12 October 2010.
7. "BoxRec - George Kandelaki". Archived from the original on 2012-10-12.

External links

• Boxing record for Georgi Kandelaki from BoxRec (registration required) (history)
• Georgi Kandelaki Boxing Record at BoxingRecords.com

Preceded by Johnny Nelson Relinquished

WBU Heavyweight Champion December 21, 2002 – January 2004 Retired

Succeeded by Matt Skelton