Zsolt Erdei retired from professional boxing in 2014, and from April 2017 he was president and then co-president of the Hungarian Boxing Association (MÖSZ). Since then, Erdei manages his own academy, which also started cooperation with UTE.
The former Olympic bronze medalist and professional world champion boxer recently a They play sports in a given interview, to the question whether “in order to solve the problems of Hungarian boxing, he keeps in touch with our former/current boxers, for example István Kovács”, he answered that “There are some whom I keep in touch with, but some I don’t, because it doesn’t fit the chemistry”.
The interview blew the fuse of István Kovács, who held the position of secretary general of the International Boxing Association (IBA) until last summer, and wrote on his private profile in a public Facebook comment that he criticized Erdei with harsh words:
“The chemistry is not right???? Why can’t you speak honestly? Cheating, lying, meanness have nothing to do with chemistry. I would rather say that I think differently about basic human values, ethics, and decency. Point.”
Olympic champion and professional world champion Kovács was not the only one to comment on Erdei’s words. Félix Rácz, known as a promoter, who also organized Madár’s farewell match, also spoke harshly in a post:
“When he was still the “president” of MÖSZ (in 2018), we presented him with István Kovács a complete sports promotion (amateur & professional) program proposal! It is interesting that what he is talking about now was not so long ago, for some reason it was not important to the “president” at the time, in fact, there was so little openness to it – to the promotion of Hungarian boxing, which was already in decline – that he was not thanked, BUT NO also responded (to the nearly 20-page material prepared and handed over for FREE)! Neither he, nor the general secretary at the time, nor anyone else from MÖSZ…”
So far, Zsolt Erdei has not responded to the accusations against him.
Cover photo: Zsolt Erdei (Photo: Hédi Tumbasz / National Sport)
