Rufat Riskiyev, the first Uzbek boxer to win a world championship and a 1976 Olympic silver medalist for the Soviet Union, died Aug. 15, 2026, at 76, Gazeta.uz reported.
Riskiyev took up boxing in 1961. He won his first medal at the Soviet national championships in 1971 and his first Soviet title in 1972. At the inaugural World Boxing Championships in Havana, Cuba, he won the middleweight title in 1974.
At the Montreal Olympics on July 31, 1976, Riskiyev represented the Soviet Union in the middleweight final. Michael Spinks won when the referee stopped the bout in the third round, leaving Riskiyev with the silver medal.
After the 1976 Olympics, Riskiyev retired from competition and worked as a boxing coach and referee in Uzbekistan. In 1997, he became the first professional referee from Central Asia to serve with the World Boxing Organization.
