Rostislav Zaulichny first won fame at the 1988 Soviet Championships, where he won a bronze medal as a middleweight, which he repeated in 1989. In 1990, Zaulichny won his first Soviet title in middleweight and he repeated that victory in 1991, but this time in light-heavyweight. Zaulichny was selected to the 1992 Unified Team’s Olympic boxing team and won a silver medal, losing to German Torsten May in the final. A year earlier, Zaulichny had won bronze at the European Championships, which he repeated in 1993, by then competing for the newly independent Ukraine. Zaulichny also won bronze at the 1993 World Championships and won the World Cup in 1994. Zaulichny competed at the 1995 World Championships, and the 1996 Olympics and European championships, but with less success and retired from boxing after the 1996 season.