During his short career in boxing, Russian boxer Albert Rodionov managed to become the strongest in the country several times and even succeed at the European Championships. Due to an injury, the young man had to pause his performances, but he found a new challenge for himself in coaching and dreamed of training future champions.

It was not possible to implement the plans: returning from his mother’s funeral, the titled athlete burned alive in his car…

Sports victories and coaching prospects

A native of the Volgograd region, Albert Rodionov entered the boxing section at the age of 10 and quickly achieved noticeable success. Already at 14, the young athlete joined the national team, in which he twice won the European Junior Championship and also became vice-champion of the Eurasian Games. Among other things, the representative of the bantamweight category had three victories at the Russian championships and many medals in less significant tournaments.

Albert was prevented from achieving more in the amateur ring by a shoulder injury, which he received at the age of 19. My boxing career had to be put on pause. Three years later, Rodionov tried his hand at fist fighting, taking part in a tournament of a popular fighting organization. It turned out well, but Albert himself was not sure that he should move in this direction.

– I won there. We’ll see later. After all, these are fist fights, too dangerous. Now I’m taking a break from fighting and wondering whether I’ll continue to take part,” Albert said in an interview with the Volzhsky Notebook.

Albert Rodionov / Photo: © Personal archive of Albert Rodionov

With much more enthusiasm, the young man thought about a coaching career. We managed to take the first steps in this direction, but I wanted to not just prepare a shift, but do it in my own room. By the way, Albert met his wife in a boxing gym, albeit not his own. The girl also practiced boxing and had some success in the ring. Seven years ago, a sports couple had a daughter, who at first chose gymnastics over all possible martial arts.

Didn’t make it home

There was a lot of uncertainty in the future: not everything was going well with the protracted recovery from injury, there was no clarity about sports prospects. And yet it seemed that there were no unsolvable difficulties. But a few days ago, a great misfortune happened in the athlete’s family – his mother died.

Albert went to the funeral, and on December 21 he raced back along the night highway. Such trips themselves carry a great risk, and if your thoughts are occupied with grief, then nothing good can be expected from travel. The car with the champion never made it home.

— Around three o’clock in the morning, in the area of ​​the 18th kilometer of the Krasnodar-Yeysk highway, a traffic accident occurred, as a result of which one person died. According to preliminary data, a 25-year-old man hit a parapet-type road fence, after which the car caught fire, the traffic police reported.

What is hidden behind this dry formulation is easy to imagine if you see a photo of the remains of a burnt car. As a result of his injuries, Albert died on the spot; the medical team could no longer help him.