Jerzy Kulej was the top amateur light-welterweight boxer in the World during the 1960s. He won Olympic golds in 1964 and 1968 and was European champion in 1963 and 1965, while taking silver in 1967. Kulej was also an eight-time Polish light-welterweight champion (1961-65, 1967, 1969-70).
Kulej retired from boxing in 1972 with a record of 317 wins in 348 bouts. During his sporting career he had worked with the Warszawa city police, but after his retirement decided to try his hand in acting. His most notable movie role was playing the main character, inspector Milde, in Marek Piwoski’s film “Excuse Me, Is It Here They Beat Up People?” (Przepraszam, czy tu biją?, 1976). Later Kulej became interested in politics, and although losing election to the parliament (the Sejm) in 1993, he was elected to the Sejm in 2001 as a member of the Democratic Left Alliance party and served until 2005. Kulej also worked as a boxing commentator for Polish TV station Polsat Sport.
Poland