Mitrofan Kosarev: Bantamweight Champion Who Never Lost
The History in Color series features a photo of legendary Soviet bantamweight Mitrofan Kosarev competing outdoors in Russia.
Mitrofan Kosarev (1911-2005) was the best Soviet bantamweight in the 1930s and 1940s.
Nobody could beat Kosarev when he competed. He never lost the title at the USSR nationals.
Kosarev competed for the Stroitel Club in Moscow in the bantamweight and won the USSR championship in 1938, 1939, 1940, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946. He set 16 national records in the 56kg class and they stayed for 12 years. After his retirement as an athlete, Mitrofan Kosarev worked as a head coach of the Trud club.
The original black and white photo was donated to the Lift Up by Sergey Kosarev, the son of legendary Mitrofan Kosarev. Sergey is a Master of Sports in Olympic Weightlifting. For many years, he was the head coach of the MAI team and now he is the President of the Powerlifting Federation of Russia.