David Valeryevich Ayrapetyan (russian: Давид Валерьевич Айрапетян, born 26 September 1983) is an Armenian-Russian

amateur boxer Amateur boxing is a variant of boxing practiced at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games, as well as many associations. Amateur boxing bouts are short in duration, comprising three rounds of three ...

. He is a six-time Champion of Russia, European Champion, World and Olympic medalist. Ayrapetyan was awarded the Honored Master of Sports of Russia title in 2009.

Early life

David was born on 26 October 1983 in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

Azerbaijan SSR Azerbaijan ( az, Азәрбајҹан, Azərbaycan, italics=no), officially the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Azerbaijan SSR; az, Азәрбајҹан Совет Сосиалист Республикасы, Azərbaycan Sovet Sosialist R ...

to an Armenian family. David received his name from his uncle, his fathers brother. His uncle was a wrestler and took David to his practices. After the beginning of the

First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War, referred to in Armenia as the Artsakh Liberation War ( hy, Արցախյան ազատամարտ, Artsakhyan azatamart) was an ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in th ...

, the family was forced to move to

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

and then later to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. They lived in

Pyatigorsk Pyatigorsk (russian: Пятиго́рск; Circassian: Псыхуабэ, ''Psıxwabæ'') is a city in Stavropol Krai, Russia located on the Podkumok River, about from the town of Mineralnye Vody where there is an international airport and about ...

for 13 years. The family rented a room in a four-storey apartment in which David's parents, brother and grandmother lived in. In the fourth grade, David already knew some basics of combat from his uncle and once got into a fight with two classmates. He fought for what was right, but didn't win. When David came home, he scattered all of his school things around the house because he was angry. When his mother came home from work, he told her what's wrong, and she started crying and tried to clam him. His mother told him to go take revenge and he did. This is how everything started. Ayrapetyan started boxing when he was 13 years old under Valery Entaltseva. He graduated from North Caucasus State Technical University, Faculty of Law, Stavropol, Russia.

Career

Ayrapetyan became the 2002 World Youth Champion in his weight class after boxing for just six years. He was included in the Russian national boxing team in 2006 and won a gold medal at the 2006 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Plovdiv. Ayrapetyan is only the second Russian boxer to become a European Champion in the light flyweight division, after the highly decorated veteran Sergey Kazakov. In 2006 and 2007, Ayrapetyan beat Kazakov at the Russian Championships and took his spot on the national team as first in the light flyweight division. At the

2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships The 2007 AIBA World Boxing Championships were held in Chicago, United States from October 23, 2007 to November 3, 2007. It was held at the UIC Pavilion. It was the biggest World Championships in AIBA history. The competition is under the super ...

, Ayrapetyan beat returning Vice-Champion

Pál Bedák Pál Bedák (born September 8, 1985 in Budapest) is a Boxing, boxer from Hungary best known to win the silver medal at the 2005 World Amateur Boxing Championships, 2005 World Championships. His older brother Zsolt Bedák is a bantamweight boxer. ...

in the first round but next lost to reigning World Champion

Zou Shiming Zou Shiming (; born 18 May 1981) is a Chinese former professional boxer who competed from 2013 to 2017 and held the WBO flyweight title from 2016 to 2017. As an amateur, Zou is China's most successful boxer of all time. In the light-flyweight di ...

, who went on to win the World Championships again. Ayrapetyan competed at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

in Beijing. He unexpectedly lost in the first match to Georgiy Chygayev, who won the European Championship at flyweight that year and then moved down in weight class. Ayrapetyan reached the finals at the

2009 World Amateur Boxing Championships The 2009 AIBA World Boxing Championships were held in Milan, Italy, from September 1, 2009 to September 12, 2009, in the Mediolanum Forum. It was the biggest World Championships in AIBA history. The competition was under the supervision of the ...

in Milan and won the silver medal. He won a bronze medal at the

2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships The 2011 AIBA World Boxing Championships was held at the Heydar Aliyev Sports and Exhibition Complex in Baku, Azerbaijan from September 22 to October 10, 2011. The competition ran under the supervision of the world's governing body for amateur ...

after losing to now reigning World and Olympic Champion Shiming, who went on to win the World Championship yet again. Ayrapetyan advanced to the semifinals at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and won an Olympic bronze medal.

Awards

*Medal of the Order, For Services to the Fatherland, II degree (13 August 2012) - for outstanding contribution to the development of physical culture and sports, high achievements in sports at the

in London, United Kingdom.

References

External links

*
Profile on the Russian Boxing Federation Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayrapetyan, David 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Baku Armenian male boxers Light-flyweight boxers Olympic boxers of Russia Boxers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Russia Olympic medalists in boxing Russian people of Armenian descent Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Russian male boxers AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists