Boris
LAGUTIN

In childhood, I was a shy boy. But, as soon as I held the first fight, the rumour that Lagutin started boxing spread around or courtyard. The boys began to treat me with respect.*

Unwieldy... Lanky... With thin arms. So... I don’t even want to say... Ungainly in appearance.
Honoured USSR boxing coach Vladimir Trenin

I believe that a coach should not only train an athlete but also share his life with him. I was lucky.

I never called him Borka. Only Boris. He was always so serious, and everyone knew that he had one goal – to win
Richardas Tamulis, Soviet boxer

I never got anything for free. But I did not enter the ring to impress. I went there to win.

"Knight of the Ring." At the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Lagutin fought with a boxer from Argentina. In the very first seconds, Lagutin knocked him down. The Argentinian got up and went nuts on the referee. But Lagutin stood in front of the referee. He did not strike the rival, he just blocked him. Since then, Lagutin was nicknamed "Knight of the Ring".
Nikolai Puchkov, international category referee.

It hurt to lose the fight on points. You could get drunk, run around and scream that you got fleeced, and the rival was unfair. But that’s not my style. I would train even harder.

I was so in love with him... But he didn’t have time for dating. He lived on Rublyovskoye Motorway. He started training at 7 am. I would get up at five to go to the river bank to see him and then went swimming in the Moskva River. We would meet in the middle of the river.
Tatyana Lagutina, wife of Boris Lagutin

A lot. It is a way of life for me. It is not only about victories, but also defeats. It is about defeating yourself. That’s a serious thing to do with a smile.

* The information is based on the accounts of the personas featuring in this section as well as accounts of their family members, acquaintances and colleagues