# Aleksandr Miroshnichenko

Aleksandr Viktorovich "Alex" Miroshnichenko (Russian: Александр Викторович Мирошниченко; 26 April 1964 – 19 May 2003) was a Russian-Kazakh professional boxer. As an amateur he represented the Soviet Union at the 1988 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the super-heavyweight division.
His other accomplishments included silver at the 1989 World Championships, as well as bronze at the 1983 and 1989 European Championships, and other international tournaments.

## Early years

Miroshnichenko took up boxing at the age of 13, at the strong insistence of his mother, who thought that her son must be able to defend himself, and brought him to the gym at his hometown of Kostanay. Miroshnichenko shown little interest in boxing, but had a natural talent and considerable ability to compete both nationally and internationally, which he did during the 1980s. He was ranked world's #6 super heavyweight by the AIBA in 1984.

## Amateur career

Punch statistics for the Bowe vs. Miroshnichenko at the 1988 Summer Olympics :
| Punches | Punches | 1st round | 2nd round | 3rd round | Total |
| Thrown | Bowe | 68 | 102 | 127 | 297 |
| Thrown | Miroshnichenko | 57 | 37 | 49 | 143 |
| Landed | Bowe | 8 | 32 | 48 | 88 |
| Landed | Miroshnichenko | 21 | 17 | 10 | 48 |
| Percent | Bowe | 12% | 31% | 38% | 30% |
| Percent | Miroshnichenko | 37% | 46% | 20% | 34% |
Aside from his Olympic performance, Miroshnichenko had a distinguished amateur career, winning 210 out of 233 bouts, including a win over future world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis and 1984 U.S. Army and inter-service champion Wesley Watson. He won medals in the European Championships and the World Cup, and was a three-time Soviet champion. He represented the Dynamo Sports Society. At the 1988 Olympics semifinals Miroshnichenko floored U.S. Riddick Bowe momentarily in the first round, but Bowe managed to win by the decision. Despite Miroshnichenko's loss to Bowe, Lou Falcigno, a New York-based boxing promoter of Momentum Enterprises, Inc., expressed a particular interest in bringing him to the United States to fight professionally. Negotiations began between the promoter and the Soviet Boxing Federation and Sovintersport, the entity responsible for the commercialization of Soviet sports, but proven unsuccessful as the Soviet government dismissed the idea early in 1989.

### Highlights

He had 233 fights as an amateur, finishing his amateur career with a record of 210–23.

## Professional career

Miroshnichenko turned pro in 1990, at the very advent of professional boxing in the late Soviet Union, and had limited success. He began his career by knocking out Roberto Servin in the first round. In Miroshnichenko's third fight, he stopped future WBC International Champion, Ross Puritty.
In 1991, Miroshnichenko won the vacant Russian Heavyweight title from Nurlan Dzhanibekov. After vacating the Russian title in 1992, Miroshnichenko won a very close Split Decision against Samuel M'Bendjob by only one point. In 1993, Miroshnichenko beat former IBF Cruiserweight Champion, Ricky Parkey in an impressive third round Knockout.
After 21 consecutive wins against limited competition, Miroshnichenko was finally defeated by Oleg Maskaev in 1993 in Maskaev's first pro fight: a TKO in the third round. Miroshnichenko's cornermen later told that he entered the bout with his arm fractured. Miroshnichenko retired after the bout.

## Retirement and later years

Upon his retirement from competition, he opened a state-sponsored boxing school for youth, and worked as a chief boxing coach of the Kostanay Region in 2000-2002. He also helped to establish the school of martial arts at the Kostanay State University (the only martial arts higher education unit in Kazakhstan,) which he headed as a dean until his death.

## Death

Miroshnichenko died under unclear circumstances in 2003, aged 39, after supposedly falling down nine flights of stairs at his apartment building in his hometown. Rumours initially circulated that his death was related to his testimony in the trial of a local judge, but local prosecutor's office later ruled his death was most probably accidental, and case was closed.

## Professional boxing record

| 22 fights | 21 wins | 1 loss |
| By knockout | 15 | 1 |
| By decision | 6 | 0 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Opp Record | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
| 22 | Loss | 21–1 | Oleg Maskaev | debut | TKO | 3 (6) | 17 Apr 1993 | Taraz, Kazakhstan | |
| 21 | Win | 21–0 | Ricky Parkey | 22–15–0 | KO | 3 | 20 Mar 1993 | Philips Halle, Düsseldorf, Germany | |
| 20 | Win | 20–0 | Michael Simuwelu | 18–4–1 | PTS | 8 | 19 Dec 1992 | Berlin, Germany | |
| 19 | Win | 19–0 | Samuel M'Bendjob | 6–3–0 | SD | 8 | 3 Dec 1992 | Rotterdam Ahoy Sportpaleis, Rotterdam, Netherlands | 79–77, 77–76, 76–78 |
| 18 | Win | 18–0 | Oleg Ushakov | debut | PTS | 8 | 18 Oct 1992 | Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan | |
| 17 | Win | 17–0 | Carlos Pena | 0–1–0 | KO | 1 | 2 Oct 1992 | Waregem, West Flanders, Belgium | |
| 16 | Win | 16-0 | Mike Cohen | 30–18–0 | KO | 2 (6) | 19 Sep 1992 | Kassel, Hesse, Germany | |
| 15 | Win | 15–0 | Nurlan Dzhanibekov | 0–4–0 | KO | 1 (8) | 23 Aug 1992 | Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan | |
| 14 | Wi | 14–0 | Yevgeniy Tulenov | debut | KO | 2 (8) | 8 Aug 1992 | Rudniy, Kazakhstan | |
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | Steve Garber | 18–16–1 | TKO | 1 (8) | 8 May 1992 | Waregem, West Flanders, Belgium | |
| 12 | Win | 12–0 | Albert Johnson | debut | TKO | 1 (10) | 1 Feb 1992 | Willemstad, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles | |
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | Nurlan Dzhanibekov | 0–2–0 | KO | 4 (10) | 7 Dec 1991 | Rudniy, Kazakh SSR | Won vacant Russian Heavyweight title |
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | James Holly | 3–23–0 | KO | 2 | 28 Oct 1991 | Arnhem, Netherlands | |
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Nurlan Dzhanibekov | 0–1–0 | PTS | 8 | 26 Sep 1991 | Karaganda, Kazakh SSR | |
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Vladimir Guguchkin | 0–1–0 | TKO | 6 (8) | 4 Sep 1991 | Alma-Ata, Kazakh SSR | |
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Pyotr Skok | debut | TKO | 8 (8) | 7 Jul 1991 | Pavlodar, Kazakh SSR | |
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Igor Shklyaruk | debut | TKO | 4 (8) | 18 May 1991 | Semipalatinsk, Kazakh SSR | |
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Vazgen Ayvazyan | debut | PTS | 8 | 17 Mar 1991 | Kemerovo, RSFSR | |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Viktor Aldoshin | debut | TKO | 4 (6) | 16 Jan 1991 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Ross Puritty | 3–1–0 | RTD | 6 (8) | 29 Oct 1990 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Juan Hernández | 3–11–0 | PTS | 6 | 20 Aug 1990 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Roberto Servin | 1–1–1 | KO | 1 (6), 2:27 | 23 Jun 1990 | Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan | Professional debut |

## Memory

Alexandr Miroshnichenko Memorial annual junior boxing tournament has been established in his hometown of Kostanay.