Boris Nikonorov

Boris Nikonorov took up boxing when he was 14-years-old and was selected to the Soviet national team in 1957 after he won the Soviet junior bantamweight championship. Nikonorov competed at two major tournaments during his career – the 1960 Olympics, where he was fifth in featherweight, and the 1963 European Championships, where he won silver in lightweight. He was also selected to the 1964 Soviet Olympic team, but did not compete at those Olympics due to injury, as he broke his leg during a recreational football match with his friends a month before the Olympics. Domestically Nikonorov won Soviet titles as a featherweight in 1959-60 and as a lightweight in 1962-63 and 1965-66. He retired from boxing in 1966 with a record of 250 wins in 265 bouts. After finishing his sporting career, Nikonorov worked as a boxing coach in Moskva. From 1970-74 he was head coach of the Bulgarian national boxing team and in 1989 briefly coached Soviet national boxing team.