The Japanese Boxing Federation arranged a farewell ceremony for the legendary Mr. Vladimir Shin who retired at the age of 70
Mr. Vladimir Shin is a legend in our beloved combat sport and after more than six decades in the sport, the 70-year-old icon announced his retirement following his last work in Japan as a coach.
Japan arranged its National Championships by the time of the ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships in their capital city. The All Japan National Championships was held in Tokyo and the Japanese Boxing Federation arranged a farewell ceremony for Mr. Shin to underline his hard work for the country.
Mr. Shin was born in the city of Almalyk, Uzbek SSR in the Soviet Union on August 19 in 1954 and he began boxing as a child.
He competed in the 6th Soviet Union National Spartakyad in Tashkent where he represented the team of the Uzbek SSR at the light middleweight (71kg).
The US national team attended in four dual matches in the Soviet Union between January 24 and February 2 in 1976. Their last stage was in Samarkand where the young Shin received the right to represent the Soviet Union but he lost his contest against Raymond Kates.
Shin was involved to the Soviet Union’s national team which attended in a training camp and dual match with Uganda on April 1976. The Ugandan boxers were among the best African nations in that period and their athletes claimed medals in the Olympic Games and also at the AIBA World Boxing Championships.
He represented the Army team at the 1977 Soviet Union National Championships in Frunze, Kyrgyz SSR where Shin advanced to the semi-finals following his successes over Lokomotiv’s Nikolay Druzhinin, Spartak’s Anatoliy Kurikov and Burevestnik’s Vladimir Kushnarev. Shin had a narrow loss to eventual winner Leonid Shaposhnikov in the final of the middleweight (75kg).
Havana hosted the 13th Army Boxing Championships in 1977 where Shin advanced to the final after beating Bulgaria’s Kostadin Folev. He was not able to box in the final against his main national rival, Leonid Shaposhnikov and claimed silver medal in Cuba.
He started the year of 1979 at the President’s Cup in Indonesia where the Soviet Union competed with a strong team. South Korea, Algeria, Thailand, Japan, France, and Australia also sent boxers to the Indonesian event. Shin knocked out two out of his three opponents in Jakarta.
He was member of the Soviet Union’s national team at the Cologne 1979 European Boxing Championships where he had an early elimination. Shin was disqualified against Switzerland’s Michel Gillieron in the first round of his weight class.
He achieved the gold medal at the AIBA World Cup in 1979 where he defeated opponents from Thailand, the United States and South Korea.
He claimed silver medal at the 1980 Soviet Union National Championships which was a top selection event for the Moscow Olympic Games. Shin returned to the Indonesian President’s Cup in January 1981 and remained on the top of the podium.
Shin won the national title of the Soviet Union in 1981 when he was one of the three Uzbeks who claimed gold medals. Following Zair Abdukadyrov and Sergey Vasilenko, Shin also won his weight class in the Tashkent event.
Shin was member of the Soviet Union’s team at the Munich 1982 AIBA World Boxing Championships. He eliminated West Germany’s Kurt Seiler and Romania’s Georgica Donici in Munich which guaranteed his medal. Shin had to meet in the semi-finals with Cuba’s Pablo Romero and after their tight contest, the Uzbek boxer received a bronze medal in Munich. The Cuban boxer won the weight class following their semi-final while the Soviet Union’s team earned three gold medals.
Shin dominated the 1983 Soviet Union National Championships, he triumphed over Latvia’s Edgar Lovets, Belarus’s Igor Sharapov, Ukraine’s Vitaliy Kachanovskiy and Kyrgyzstan’s Yevgeniy Alekseyev. Shin claimed bronze medal at the TSC Boxing Tournament in Berlin, East Germany a few months later.
Shin used the 1984 edition of the King’s Cup as preparation before his main championship of the year. He knocked out Australia’s Rom Sawyer in the first preliminary round and after that he defeated Kenya’s Syivaus Okello and United States’ Orbit Pough. Shin advanced to the final of the light heavyweight (81kg) where he was able to beat New Zealand’s best boxer Kevin Barry by points.
The Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games was boycotted by the Soviet Union but the communist nations arranged a Friendship Tournament in Havana. Shin was member of the Soviet Union’s team at the Cuban international event which was a small Olympic Games between several stars. The Uzbek light heavyweight (81kg) boxer stopped DPR Korea’s Li Dal Chen in the semi-finals but Cuba’s Pablo Romero was slightly better in their exchanges on their re-match after 1982.
Shin finished his boxing career in 1985 and he worked as a coach in several positions in various countries.
Mr. Shin joined to the Japanese national elite team in the beginning of 2019 and he supported the development of their boxers which resulted amazing successes at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
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