Olympic boxing champion Vladimir Yengibaryan dies at 81

February 1, 2013 - 15:55 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Olympic boxing gold winner Vladimir Yengibaryan has died in Los Angeles at the age of 81, the Armenian National Olympic committee said Friday, Feb 1.

Yengibaryan won gold for the Soviet Union in the welterweight class at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne and was also a three-time European champion at light welterweight and welterweight between 1953 and 1959.

He moved to the U.S. in the 1990s after spending 36 years as head of Armenia's national boxing academy.

The Olympic committee said a memorial service would be held Sunday, Feb 3 in Armenia and that he would be buried in the U.S.

No cause of death was given, although Yengibaryan had reportedly suffered from Alzheimer's disease.