Pierre Baruzy
Eleven national titles, then he rebuilt the sport
- Born
- May 19, 1897, Amiens, France
- Died
- December 17, 1994 (aged 97)
- Nationality
France- Style
- Middleweight who fought up
- Weight
- Middleweight
- Active
- 1922–1937
The story
ount Pierre Baruzy carried boxe française from the Charlemont academy into the modern era. Born in Amiens in 1897, the son of an officer, he joined the Académie de boxe française at 13 as a pupil of Charles Charlemont. In the First World War he served in the cavalry and in aviation and was wounded three times. Between 1922 and 1935 he won 11 French middleweight titles, and at the 1924 Paris Olympics he boxed in savate's demonstration program. In 1937, at the last national championship for 29 years, he won the all-weights title by beating light-heavyweights and heavyweights. An engineer and industrialist by trade, he was still training daily in his sixties, and in 1965 became founding president of the national committee that the French savate federation replaced in 1975. He died in Paris in 1994, aged 97.
- French middleweight champion 11 times (1922–1935)
- French all-weights champion (1937)
- President, Académie de boxe française (from 1930)
- Founding president, Comité national de boxe française (1965)
- Knight of the Legion of Honour
- Croix de guerre 1914–1918
- Médaille militaire
Defining fights
- 1924WINvs Bar (Belgian champion) (Olympic demonstration, Paris)
- 1937Won the French all-weights title, beating light-heavyweights and heavyweights
- 1922Won 11 French middleweight titles between and 1935
Baruzy won an all-weights title as a middleweight. When you give up size, keep the bigger fighter on the end of your chassé (thrust kick) and circle off the line, so he has to reset his feet before he can punch.
2002–2021