Viktor Rybakov

Viktor Rybakov, one of the most successful Soviet boxers at the end of 1970s and start of the 1980s, took up boxing in 1971. In 1974, Rybakov won the flyweight title at the European Junior Championships and in 1975 won his first of seven Soviet titles. Rybakov won his 1975 and 1976 Soviet titles in bantamweight, his 1977-80 titles in featherweight and his 1982 title as a lightweight.

During his career, Rybakov competed in two Olympics, winning bronzes in bantamweight in 1976 and as a featherweight in 1980. Rybakov was also highly successful at the European Championships, competing in four championships in three classes, becoming a champion in each class. At the 1975 European Championships, Rybakov won in bantamweight, in 1979 he won as a featherweight, and in 1981 he won the lightweight class. At the 1977 European Championships, Rybakov also won a bronze as a bantamweight.

At all four European Championships, Rybakov was chosen as the best technical boxer of the tournament, being awarded the Nikolay Nikiforov-Denisov Trophy four times. Rybakov also competed at the 1978 World Championships, and won silvers at the 1979 and 1981 World Cups. Rybakov ended his boxing career in 1982 with a record of 203 wins out of 219 bouts.

After his boxing career, Rybakov was the coach of Soviet national boxing team for a while, before he was sent to East Germany to coach the East German Army boxing team. In 1985, Rybakov was arrested for suspicion of smuggling foreign goods to the Soviet Union and was sentenced to six years in prison.

Rybakov was paroled after three years in prison and in 1990 emigrated to Canada and resumed boxing. He turned professional, but fought only one fight which he won by knockout. In the middle of the 1990s, Rybakov returned to Russia and became a successful businessman, and also served as the vice-president of the Russian Boxing Federation.