Image copyright Getty Pictures Image caption His closing combat was once shortly earlier than his arrest final yr, while he beat British boxer Tommy Langford
Georgian former boxing champion Avtandil Khurtsidze has been sentenced to ten years in prison for running as the “chief enforcer” for an “elite” legal enterprise.
He was once convicted in June in The Big Apple of racketeering and wire fraud conspiracy.
Prosecutors stated the 38-yr-vintage boxer had “really extensive affect” within the felony underworld as a part of a Soviet Union crime gang.
They mentioned Khurtsidze used violence in carrier of the group’s actions.
He and his buddies, known because the Shulaya Undertaking, had been blamed for crimes around the US together with extortion, twine fraud, illegal gambling and running a brothel in Brooklyn.
Symbol copyright Getty Photographs Symbol caption Khurtsidze used to be arrested in 2017, scuppering his probabilities at the WBO middleweight title
On top of his decade federal prison sentence, the Georgian boxer was given two further years supervision on unencumber.
“way to our dedicated regulation enforcement partners across the globe, Khurtsidze’s reign of extortion and violence has been halted,” US attorney Geoffrey Berman stated in a statement.
‘just a waste’
Khurtsidze held the intervening time WBO middleweight identify in 2017.
His last professional struggle was once against British boxer Tommy Langford in April 2017, which he won.
A later bout against Billy Joe Sanders was once cancelled after Khurtsidze was once arrested in conjunction with more than 30 others in a swoop against the organised crime syndicate.
Following his conviction, his former promoter Lou DiBella criticised the boxer for squandering his career.
“He allow many people down who believed in him, but no one more than himself. just a waste, and it is all on him for selecting the darkish facet,” Mr DiBella told ESPN.
