Soviet Germans: Vitali Tajbert

[BoztheMadman]

Continuing with our "exotic Germans" thread with Vitali Tajbert-a very slick guy who captured the WBC super feather title in 2009 and held it for almost exactly a year. He was also the European champion and as amateur won countless titles. Tajbert stands 5'5 and a half or 167 cm and was never a puncher, but he was a tough, fast and durable guy who had a rather aggressive style for a technician. That is why the German boxing fans loved him. To my knowledge, he is one of only 3 Soviet Germans to win a world title, the other two being Robert Stieglitz and Ina Menzer. Here is some info on Vitali Tajbert.

 

Like most other ethnic Germans in the old USSR, he was given a Russian first name at birth, but unlike Stieglitz, he kept it. The original German spelling of his last name is "Teibert", but he also kept the old Russian Soviet one. Vitali was born 25 May 1982 in Mikhaylovka, a small town or village close to Kazakhstan's border with Russia, northeast in the country. Of course, back then it was still a part of the USSR. Like many other Kazakh Germans, he moved to Germany after the collapse of Soviet Union and took up boxing there. In 1999, he won the bronze at the Junior European Championships in Rijeka, Croatia and the following year he won the gold at the Junior World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. He fared less well at his first "adult" WC in Belfast, losing on points in the first round against Afanasy Poskachin of Russia. He didn't have better luck at his first adult or regular EC in Perm, Russia, 2002, again going out in the first round on points. But, in 2003, he won the silver at the WC in Bangkok, interestingly losing to a fellow Kazakh, Galib Jafarov, in the final. He then won his only EC gold in 2004 in Pula, Croatia, before ending his amateur career with a bronze at the Olympics in Athens that same year. He had his first pro fight under the guidance of trainer Magomed Schaburow (originally from Tajikistan!) on 3 December 2005, on the same card where Arthur Abraham won his first world title. He beat a guy called Robert Zsemberi by a KO1, an easy opponent. He also won his second fight by KO1 and the fourth as well, but after that, there would be few knockouts for Tajbert. After going 14-0, he was matched against the undefeated Jesus Garcia Escalona of Spain, for the European Union super feather title. It was on 29 February 2008 in Alsterdorf and Tajbert won clearly by UD. After making one defense against Antonio Joao Bento by UD, he fought for the full European title against Belarussian Siarhei Huliakevich on 5 December same year. Tajbert dropped a UD to Huliakevich in what was a disappointing performance on his behalf, losing in front of the home crowd in Germany.

 

He came back in 2009 first by decisioning Rudy Encarnacion in 6 rounds and then fought Humberto Gutierrez Ochoa for the interim WBC title. Ochoa had just won it by defeating Huliakevich himself, but this time, it would be Tajbert's night, 21 November at Sparkassen Arena in Kiel. He used his left jab to outbox Ochoa and won convincingly on all scorecards. He got to fight for the full WBC title against Hector Velazquez, a very seasoned fighter, on 22 May 2010 in Rostock, eastern Germany. There was an accidental clash of heads in the second round which cut Tajbert, and after another accidental clash, the fight had to go to the scorecards in the ninth. Tajbert won clearly again and could now call himself the full WBC champion. However, the joy would not last too long, as he had to go to Japan to defend his title for the first time against the excellent Takahiro Ao. It was on 26 November '10 in Nagoya that Tajbert lost his title, after being down in the third round and in the end losing convincingly on all scorecards. He would have 4 more lower-level fights before calling it quits in 2013, aged 31 and with a record of 24 wins, 6 by ko, and 2 losses.

 

Vitali Tajbert is one of those guys that didn't have long careers as pros but still managed to achieve quite a lot during. During those less than 8 years, he won one major and one minor world title and a minor European title. He however no doubt had a more coveted career in the amateurs and his rather long amateur career might be the reason why his pro career was rather short. He simply got enough of boxing. He has never been knocked out however and was only down once, against Ao. That was the story of Vitali Tajbert, another SOVIET GERMAN BOXER!