Vyacheslav Uzelkov gained fame both in the boxing ring and outside of it.
On November 9, 2024, Ukrainian boxer Vyacheslav Uzelkov died. The successful athlete was only 45 years old.
In the last period of his life, the athlete struggled with a serious illness. In April 2024, he underwent heart surgery, after which he underwent rehabilitation.
Since February, he had been complaining of serious health problems caused by professional sports. In early April, the former boxer announced that he would undergo major heart surgery, which he was quite afraid of.
We tell you more about the boxer who passed away at such an early age.
Childhood and amateur career
Uzelkov was born on April 8, 1979 in Vinnitsa. He started boxing in 1987. His first coach was Dmitry Shamis, then he alternately trained with Igor Musienko and Anatoly Valchuk. During his professional career, Uzelkov trained under the guidance of Vitaly Vdovkin and Vadim Lavrinets.
In the amateur ring, Vyacheslav distinguished himself with such significant achievements as victory at the European Junior Championships in Birmingham in 1997, second place at the 1998 World Cup in Beijing and third place at the World Military Games in Zagreb.
At the 2000 European Championships in the 81 kg category, he lost in the first fight. At the 2001 World Championships in Belfast, Uzelkov came in third in the 91 kg category. That same year, he took second place at the prestigious tournament in Helsinki, in 2002 he won silver at the European Championships in Perm, in 2003 he was third at the representative tournament Strandzha in Bulgaria and took second place at the Black Sea Cup in Sudak.
Professional Boxing
Uzelkov made his professional debut on October 24, 2004, when he won in six rounds against Russian Suleiman Dzherilov in Chernigov. Following this, Uzelkov won a number of victories over opponents of various levels, including Frenchman Majid Ben Driss, as well as the much more experienced Congolese Mukadi Manda.
On February 27, 2007, Vyacheslav won his first title – according to the EBU-EE version, defeating Russian Artem Vichkin. On September 13, 2007, he won the WBA Intercontinental Light Heavyweight Champion title, knocking out undefeated Spanish boxer Gabriel Campillo in the 6th round.
In his first title defense, he knocked out Argentine Julio Cesar Dominguez. In June 2008, Uzelkov knocked out the undefeated boxer from Slovenia Denis Simic.
After three more successful fights, on July 23, 2010, in Lemoore (California), Uzelkov entered the fight for the WBA world champion title with the boxer from Kazakhstan Beibut Shumenov. In the first round, Vyacheslav knocked his opponent down, but then looked worse and eventually lost by unanimous decision.
After losing to Shumenov, Vyacheslav won three fights, and then lost to German Eduard Gutknecht in a fight for the European Boxing Union European Champion title. After this fight, the Ukrainian suffered a stroke. Subsequently, Vyacheslav won three more fights, and then on March 16, 2013, he lost to Frenchman Doudou Ngumbu.
On November 9, 2013, Uzelkov won a knockout victory in a fight against American Jadon Codrington in Kyiv and won the IBO International Light Heavyweight Champion title.
On April 12, 2014, Uzelkov had his last fight in his career, losing to Serbian Gehard Aetovic.
In total, Uzelkov had 34 fights in the professional ring, won 30 (19 by knockout) and suffered four defeats.
What did he do after his boxing career
Uzelkov had an active life after finishing his boxing career. Vyacheslav tried himself as an actor, TV presenter and politician. Back in 2008, he first took part in filming a movie – in a melodrama directed by Lev Karpov. In 2009, he took part in the second season of the dance show “Dancing for You”.
In 2014-2015, Vyacheslav was a member of the jury for the program “Ukraine's Got Talent”. Then, together with his wife Marina, he starred in the program “Weighted and Happy”.
In 2020, Uzelkov ran for mayor of Vinnytsia from the OPZZh party and lost the election, gaining only 4% of the vote.
The boxer was married to Marina Borzhemskaya for 22 years. In 2021, the couple separated. They raised two children together – son Robert (2009) and daughter Olivia (2012). In 2021, Vyacheslav starred in the program “Blind Marriage” with Yulia Chernitskaya.