Sydney Jackson with his boxing students in Tashkent. Screenshot from the video “«Феномен Сиднея Джаксона» документальный фильм” from Uzbek TV‘s YouTube channel. Fair use.

The Uzbekistan men’s national boxing team created history at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris by winning gold in five out of eight weight categories, which helped it go down as the most successful performance in the history of Olympic boxing. Hasanboy Dusmatov (up to 51 kg), Abdulmalik Khalokov (up to 57 kg), Asadhudja Muidinhujaev (up to 71 kg), Lazizbek Mullojonov (92 kg), Bakhodir Jalolov (over 92 kg) all became Olympic champions. Dusmatov and Zhalolov won Olympic gold for the second time, cementing their legendary status in Uzbekistan’s sports history.

The Uzbek boxers’ performances helped Uzbekistan record its most successful outing at the Olympics, which saw it win eight gold, two silver, and three bronze medals and finish 13th out of 206 participant nations. Uzbekistan’s historic performance in Paris was not a surprise for boxing enthusiasts. Since the country gained independence in 1991, its boxers have been shining in major international tournaments, with their successes growing over the last 33 years.

Here is a YouTube video about the rise of Uzbekistan's boxers.

For example, Uzbekistan’s boxing team finished first at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro after winning three gold, two silver, and three bronze medals. The 2023 World Boxing Championship, held in Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent, foretold the Uzbek boxers’ success at the Paris Olympics, after they won five gold, two silver, and two bronze medals. While modern day figures in Uzbek boxing, such as Jalolov, Dusmatov, and the national team’s head coach Tulkin Kilichev, are household names, there is one person whose contributions often get overlooked.

The foundations for Uzbekistan’s current success in world boxing were laid more than a hundred years ago perhaps by the least likely person for this role, an Uzbek-American boxer and coach named Sydney Jackson. Born in 1886 into a working class Jewish-American family in New York, Jackson took up boxing at 12 years. He was a national champion and was a member of the US national team, a feat that allowed him to travel around the world.

In 1914, while Jackson was in Russia, where he went to “see bears walking on the streets,” World War I broke out, making the return home via Europe impossible. The only way back home was via Afghanistan, and, in 1916, Jackson arrived in Tashkent, the capital of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, which bordered Afghanistan. After failing to receive money for travel from his family, Jackson stayed in Uzbekistan, first working as a tailor and then fighting within the ranks of the Red Army in the Russian Civil War.

In 1921, he returned to Tashkent and started coaching boxing at the newly established local sports club. His was the first ever boxing club in Uzbekistan. In that same year, during a meeting with the US diplomat in Tashkent, who presented him with an opportunity to return to the US, Jackson said it was “too late” to go back and chose to stay, saying that it was “a great honor to serve” people where he was.

He continued coaching children until his death in 1966. In 1957, Jackson was awarded the title of “Honored Trainer” of the Soviet Union. Thousands of children went through his boxing school, and some of them went on to become world and Olympic champions, not to mention dozens of boxers who won national championships.

Here is a documentary film about the legacy of Sydney Jackson.

Jackson’s incredible story serves as a testament of the influence a person can have over an entire sport and several generations of athletes. He left an indelible mark on sports in Uzbekistan and helped establish what has undoubtedly become one of the finest boxing schools in the world.