Sergei Kobozev

I was just doing the usual snooping around on Boxrec and was reviewing John Ruiz's record before his fight with McCline on March 8th. I came across John's first career loss, which was delivered by Sergei Kobozev. So naturally I said "hey, lets see what happened to this guys after he beat Ruiz" turns out that he was a pretty good Cruizer.. And only lost one pro fight via a SD. I thought that fight retired him.. but than noticed the Date of Death within weeks after his loss. "Did Boxing kill him?" I asked myself.. then I found the answer to my question (Below) Me living at Brooklyn at the time of the events below, I remembered the story, but back than I was not following boxing much, with the exception of the big fights and really didn't know who this guy was. But the story stuck.. so here it is.... Name: Sergei Kobozev Career Record: click Nationality: Russian Birthplace: Kostroma, Russia Born: 1964-07-20 Died: 1995-11-08 Age at Death: 31 Height: 6′ 0½″ Kobozev was murdered by two reputed Russian mobsters, Alexander Nosov and Vasiliy Ermichine. According to the Associated Press: "Alexander Nosov and Vasiliy Ermichine were convicted Wednesday December 5, 2001 in Manhattan of racketeering in the death of Sergei Kobozev, 31, who immigrated in 1991 and lived in Brooklyn. Prosecutors said Nosov and Ermichine were members of a violent Russian organized crime group known as the "Brigade" when they kidnapped and killed Kobozev in 1995. Kobozev had been a captain in the Russian army and was a chemical engineer in St. Petersburg before he made his name as a cruiserweight on the Soviet national boxing team and later with 16 knockouts in a professional career. The mob turned against Kobozev because he worked as a part-time security guard at a Brooklyn restaurant from which Nosov was ejected after a fight with a musician, prosecutors said. Several days after the fight, the defendants and a third member of the gang unexpectedly encountered Kobozev at a car repair shop, where they confronted him about the fight before Nosov shot him, authorities said. Still alive, Kobozev was put in a jeep and driven to the Livingston, N.J., home of a high-ranking member of the crime group, where his neck was broken by Ermichine after Kobozev asked to be taken to a hospital, prosecutors said. His body was buried in a shallow grave, where it was found by the FBI in March 1999." Natan Gozman, a third defendant charged in the murder, remained a fugitive until Feb. 2005, when he was arrested in Poland and extradicted to New York, where he awaits trial.