Algirdas Šocikas was the second great boxer from Lithuania after Juozas Vinča and the first of the great Soviet Lithuanian boxers who dominated the heavier classes of the European amateur boxing scene at the end of the 1950s and in the 1960s. Šocikas made his international début at the 1949 World Student Games, where he won gold in the heavyweight division, also repeating this title in 1954. At the 1952 Olympics, Šocikas lost to eventual bronze medal winner South-African Dries Nieman in the quarter-finals. Šocikas was European heavyweight amateur champion in 1953 and 1955 and won the Soviet heavyweight title six times (1950-54 and 1956). He was also Baltic heavyweight champion in 1948, 1950 and 1952 and won six Lithuanian SSR titles (1947-48, 1951-53, 1956). After finishing his boxing career in 1957, Šocikas worked for a long time as a boxing coach in Kaunas, coaching the future Olympic medalists Ričardas Tamulis and Jonas Čepulis, among others. He also wrote and co-wrote more than 10 textbooks about boxing.
Soviet Union
Lithuania