Giorgi Kandelaki

Background

Kandelaki was born in the village of Variani and was introduced to boxing by his father, Tarash Kandelaki.

Education

In 1991, he completed Variani secondary school, and went on to study at the Gori State University Economics Department.

Career

He is of Caucasus Greek descent. In the 1995 World Championships, he reached the quarter-finals having beaten Friday Ahunanya, and again lost by default to Félix Savón. Representing Georgia at the 1996 Summer Olympics, he defeated Thompson Garcia and Wojciech Bartnik before losing to Félix Savón in the quarter-finals.

In the European Championships the same year, he lost to Christophe Mendy in the quarter-finals.

In 1998, Kandelaki started boxing as a professional for Panix Promotions. In 2003, he retired unbeaten because of an eye injury.

After his boxing career, Kandelaki founded the Georgian Professional Boxing Association and became its president He trained boys as boxers in his home village of Variani and other villages.

Achievements

• He competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics, at the 1997 World Amateur Boxing Championships he became the first Georgian to win a World Championship, and from 2002 to 2003 held the World Boxing Union heavyweight title. In 1992 Kandelaki won the Junior World Championships in the heavyweight class, and in 1993 he won the European Championships and reached the final of the World Championships, where he lost by default to Félix Savón. In 1997, he fought in the super heavyweight class in the World Championships, and defeated Vitali Boot, Petr Horáček, Jean-Francois Bergeron and Sergei Liakhovich to reach the final, where he won the title against Alexis Rubalcaba. In 2002, he won the World Boxing Union heavyweight title. He was the World Champion of the book The President, the World Champion and I by Lali Moroshkina.