Victor Young Perez is a Tunisian boxer who performed in Flyweight, the professional flyweight category. His real name is Victor Yunki. The most significant achievement of his career is his WBA World Championship title. In view of the events that took place during World War II, namely the extermination of the Jewish people, Viktor Peres was killed on January 22, 1945 in the Gleivitz concentration camp.
Victor Young Perez, biography: young years
He was born on October 18 in 1912 in Tunisia (in the capital of the same name). His family, like himself, Jewish-born Jews, lived in the Jewish quarter of Hafsiya (ethnic ghetto) in the city of Tunisia. From youth, he always went in for sports, was fond of many martial arts. At that time, sports sections were not common, so Perez independently developed physical exercises, and also engaged in combat sambo with his uncle.
At fourteen, he went to the boxing section, when a new Maccabi sports club opened near his area. Here he completely devoted himself and his body to grueling training and the study of military equipment. Gradually “stuffing his hand”, he began to be called to various city competitions, where he showed good results.
At that time, at the peak of boxing glory was the Senegalese Batling Shiki. It was an idol of childhood of Victor Peres. After two years of hard training, the young man achieved good results and began to take part in boxing matches at a professional level. Victor Perez became a recognizable athlete, his height was 154 centimeters. In view of this, he was given the nickname Young.
Victor Perez, biography: the beginning of a professional career
For the first six months he performed at home (in Tunisia) and sometimes went to competitions in neighboring Algeria, where he demonstrated the highest skill and character. Peres rivals have always underestimated him. And they could be understood, because in front of you stood a forty-kilogram 16-year-old guy with a height of 154 centimeters.
However, this attitude went only to the young Tunisian boxer. Not to say that he knocked everyone out, it happened, and lost, nevertheless, statistics all speak for themselves - 13 wins, 0 draws and 2 losses on points.
Victor Perez understood that great merits could be realized only outside the African continent, so he thought about leaving his homeland and conquering the world. But where to go? Tunisia was a French colony at that time, so the choice of a boxer became obvious. Victor Young Perez went to torture happiness in France. With the move, not everything went as smoothly as we would like. Poverty and poverty did not allow comfortably moving abroad. Rumor has it that Victor Perez even sold his boxing shoes in order to purchase a one-way ticket.
The history of Perez's professional career abroad
Arriving in France, the boxer adapted for a long time to the new land. Soon he will be 17 years old, and after a modest celebration of his birthday, he begins to prepare for his first fight. The debut match in Europe was unsuccessful - a draw with Lucien Beauvais. Apparently this fight was a lesson for the Tunisian boxer, and he began to more deeply engage in his physical training and sports skills. All the labors benefited - the adaptation was successful. Victor Perez began to box better and, oddly enough, win.
Soon his battle statistics were as follows: 31 wins, 3 draws and 4 losses. In fact, such a result for a boxer from the flyweight category is very successful. Victor Perez gained worldwide fame and popularity.
Success in the ring
In 1930, Perez boxed with the future British European lightweight champion (who was on the list of the top 10 lightweight boxers of all time). Then the Tunisian child prodigy had a fight with Johnny King, a boxer who at that time was incredibly popular, but our hero turned out to be stronger.
In each of his subsequent duel Perez entered the ring as a favorite. In 1931, he defeated Victor Ferrada and Valentin Angelmann, the main contenders for the vacant WBA title. Soon Victor Young Perez became the champion of France in the lightest weight category. The final duel for this title was against the same Angelmann. The fight ended in round 7 when Anglemann was unable to stand up after another series of quick and damaging Tunisian strikes.
After this fight, Victor Perez prepared for the main event in his life - the fight for the WBA world champion title. The fight was supposed to take place after 4 months, so Victor did not miss the opportunity of daily training.
Title event in the boxing career of Victor Peres
In the final, he was awaited by 30-year-old Frank Geniro, who at that time was already the champion of the Olympic Games, as well as a multiple participant in the title fights for the title. In October 1931, a battle took place between Peres and Geniro. Both fighters were quite young - only 19 years old, but the Tunisian opponent was more experienced and persistent.
Boxing match was the most difficult for two athletes. Geniro possessed excellent technique and “timing”, and Peres did not have enough experience and patience. The first round remained with Frank, but then Young began to show his infinite potential for energy and enthusiasm.
Already in the second round, after a brilliant attack by a Tunisian boxer, Frank Geniro fell on the platform of the ring, and the judge announced an early victory by knockout. Victor Perez became the WBA flyweight champion.
Speaking of knockouts, over the course of his entire sports career, Geniro received a knockout only 4 times, and Perez, in turn, was never distinguished by external power and few knocked out. Victor Perez is a boxer with good technique and rhythm; in his career, victories rarely happened with a pure knockout (26 knockouts in 133 fights).
The fall of the great athlete
After the legendary victory, Perez gained worldwide fame. He visited all the most expensive places in Paris - night clubs and restaurants. Along with this, he began to drink alcohol in large quantities. Often missed training, so gradually lost shape. At the same time, he started an affair with actress Mireille Bali - a beauty of Franco-Italian descent.
By the age of 21, he had already squandered his former skills and in the battle with Jackie Brown in 1932, he lost his champion title. The Tunisian boxer simply refused to go to the 14th round, due to lack of strength.
The subsequent battles of Peres were already uninteresting. There were fewer fights, and Victor himself boxed without motivation, most often half-heartedly. Because of this, and lost almost every time.
His last battle took place in December 1938, when he was only 27 years old. A month before the battle, events occurred in neighboring Germany, referred to as Kristallnacht in world history. Then the Nazis began to exterminate the Jewish people - they destroyed their houses, schools and synagogues. Despite this, Perez, who was a Jew, decided to stay in Paris (they say that because of the affair with the actress Mireille).
