World champion and Olympic boxing medalist Rufat Riskiev has died.

The legendary Soviet boxer, world champion and silver medalist of the 1976 Olympic Games, Rufat Riskiev, who bore the unofficial title "Tashkent Tiger", died at the age of 77 after a serious and prolonged illness. On August 15, the Boxing Federation of Uzbekistan announced the passing away of the renowned sports veteran.

"The Tashkent Tiger is gone, but the footprints he left in Uzbek boxing are so deep that they will never be forgotten, because the great ones do not die," the federation said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel.

Rufat Riskiev was born on October 2, 1949 in the city of Akkurgan, Tashkent region. He devoted almost his entire life to martial arts, becoming one of the brightest students of the famous coach Sidney Jackson, who laid the fundamental foundations of the Uzbek boxing school.

In the face of fierce competition in Soviet sports, Riskiev managed to prove his superiority, competing mainly in the middleweight category up to 75 kg. Over the years of active performances in the ring, he won the title of USSR champion four times, and in 1974 he won the gold medal of the World Championship.

The main international achievement of his career was the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, where the boxer reached the finals and won the silver medal in a dramatic duel with American Michael Spinks.

After completing his performances in the big ring, he switched to coaching and refereeing, having educated more than one generation of talented athletes. In the last years of his life, Riskiev was seriously ill and lost his legs, but until his last days he retained fortitude, incredible erudition, joie de vivre and an amazing sense of humor, forever leaving his name in the history of Uzbek sports.