Anatoly Lagetko took up boxing in 1950. Although he never won a Soviet title, he won silvers in lightweight at the Soviet Championships in 1955-56 and 1961 and bronze in 1958. Lagetko was Russian SFSR champion as a lightweight in 1955, 1957, 1959 and 1964. The high point of Lagetko’s boxing career was the 1956 Olympics, where he won a bronze medal, losing to the eventual gold medal winner, the Brit Dick McTaggart in the semi-final. Lagetko also competed at the 1957 European Championships, where he lost his first round match to the eventual lightweight gold medalist Kazimierz Paździor of Poland. After retiring from boxing, Lagetko worked as a boxing coach in Rostov-on-Don.