Danas Pozniakas

Polish-born Lithuanian Danas Pozniakas was the most successful light-heavyweight amateur boxer during the 1960s. Of his 217 career fights, he won 203. Starting to fight at age 13, he first won the Soviet title in 1962. The next year, he lost the final of the European Championships in Moskva to Zbigniew Pietrzykowski. He was favored to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, but was defeated at the trials by Aleksey Kiselyov, who went on to win the silver medal. But from then on, Pozniakas won four straight international titles: the 1965, 1967 and 1969 Europeans, and the 1968 Olympics. His Olympic gold was won with one knock-out, two clear decisions, and a walk-over; his opponent in the final, Ion Monea had broken his nose in the semis and could not fight. Retiring after his 1969 title, Pozniakas became an international boxing referee for several years. He then took up coaching, leading the Seychelles national team for awhile. After his death in 2005 (due to a heart attack), an annual youth tournament in Vilnius was named in his honour.