European Welterweight Champ Garbis Zakaryan, Iron Fist of Turkey, Dies at 90
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Istanbul, Turkey (January 27th, 2020)– Turkey’s first professional boxer, former Turkish and European Welterweight champion Garbis ‘The Iron Fist’ Zakaryan, has died is Istanbul, Turkey, at the age of 90. A fifth-grade dropout who went to work as a newspaper salesman to support his family, Zakaryan fought as an amateur between 1944 and 1951, he won the Istanbul and Turkish Amateur championships in 1947 and 1948, and represented Turkey as part of the Turkish national team in an international amateur tournament against Spain in 1949. Between 1950 and 1966, Zakaryan compiled a professional record of 28-9-5 with six knockouts, going undefeated at 12-0-2 in his last 14 pro bouts, in Paris, Beirut, and Istanbul. He later became a boxing trainer. He will be interred in Istanbul’s Sisli Armenian Cemetery.
COMMENTS
English