Russian Amateur Update: Lebzyak Fired, Romanchuk Dies at 37

2016 Rio Olympics was one of the worst in Russian boxing history. The Russian team managed to win just one gold (Evgueny Tischenko), one silver (Mischa Aloyan) and two bronze (Vitaliy Dunaytsev and Vladimir Nikitin) medals.

One of the biggest critics of the team was… their trainer Alexander Lebzyak, who publicly criticized both his protégés and the very principles used to define its roster, blaming the Russian Boxing Federation (RBF) for using non-sportive principles for completion of the team.

On September 8, Lebzyak, a 2000 Olympic gold medalist, was de-facto fired from his position, as the RBF chose not to prolong his expiring contract.

“I was forced to halt my managerial operations as the manager of the team. I consider this decision to be illegal”, commented Lebzyak, who is planning some legal actions to support his fame and to get back to work as a head coach. Also fired was RBF director and former heavyweight amateur star Evgueny Sudakov.

Roman Romanchuk, one of the brightest boxing gems of the 00’s, who has never lived up to his promise, passed away on September 8 at a very young age of 37 in the city of Oddessa, Ukraine, following a heart attack.

Romanchuk, a native of the Ukrainian city of Striy, relocated himself to Moscow in 2000. For the next eight years he was trained by famed coach Mark Meltzer at the KITEK gym and has gradually become one of the best boxers and kickboxers in Russia.

Competing as a heavyweight (equal to cruiserweight in prizefighting), Romanchuk was a very enthusiastic personality and was well-known in the boxing world. He was a two-time (2004 and 2006) Russian national champion and a four-time (2002, 2003 and 2007) runner-up. He also won silver medals at the world (2005) and European (2006) championships, and was a part of the Russian World Cup winning squad in 2005.

His career, already declining, as he was losing his Olympic spot to future Olympic champion Rakhim Chakhkiev, was finally derailed in summer of 2008, when Romanchuk was involved in an accident that resulted in the death of his counterpart, who was shot (arguably by Romanchuk) to the eye.

Romanchuk was charged with an accidental murder, pleaded guilty and sentenced to more than a year in settlement. He tried to come back but was never successful in doing so.