Andreas Katzourakis, the Greek Boxer on the Path to World Champion

Andreas Katzourakis, the 23-year-old boxer hailing from Athens, Greece, is training with top athletes in the sport at the Plex Boxing Gym.

Katzourakis was noticed by trainer Ronnie Shields and was subsequently invited to train at his gym just outside of Houston, Texas. Shields is a former pro himself, and has gone on to train many massive stars of the sport, including Mike Tyson, Pernell Whitaker, Evander Holyfield, and David Tua.

He also trains the current WBC Middleweight Champion of the World, Jermall Charlo, who Andreas is working with in order to prepare Charlo for his upcoming World Title fight on June 19th.

Andreas Katzourakis has been preparing all his life

Katzourakis turned pro in 2018, at the age of 20. He has been undefeated since his professional career started, winning six matches in total; five of those wins were knockouts.

Andreas grew up immersed in fighting: his father was a kickboxer who introduced him to fighting as a small child. Andreas was enthralled, and asked to take karate lessons at the age of 4. After spending a few years in karate, he started kickboxing at 6. He fought hundreds of matches as a child, until finally, as a young teenager, he saw two men boxing and instantly fell in love with that sport. Katzourakis has never looked back.

Before training with Shields, Katzourakis trained with Abel Sanchez at the Summit Gym in Big Bear, California. Shields has taken Katzourakis’ training to the next level, having him work three times a week with Jermall Charlo to help prepare Charlo for his World Title match on June 19th.

Katzourakis, who is known as the ‘Pride of Hellas,’ is proud to represent Greece in the boxing world, especially when Greece is not currently known as a boxing center — with the exception of female star Areti Mastrodouka.

The boxer simply sees this as an opportunity to draw attention to the sport in his home country, and maybe even fight for the world title himself one day. Shields has said that he “believe(s) (Andreas) has the talent and desire to become a World Champion.”

In professional boxing, athletes are separated into weight classes, with each class having its own range. The maximum and minimum weights of an individual weight class are referred to as the upper and lower limits.

Traditionally, boxing has eight weight classes, listed here in descending order from heaviest to lightest: heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight, and flyweight.

Katzourakis is 160 pounds and competes as a middleweight. Katzourakis has been working hard to distinguish himself in his weight class, and that hard work is paying off, as he remains undefeated.

But the Greek pugilist seeks to establish his own unique Greek legacy in the world of boxing, and hopefully compete for the World Title. “I’ll tell you that what I have in mind right now is to become a world champion and to be able to defend my title as many times as possible,” Katzourakis said in a recent interview. With the help of Ronnie Shields, he just might do that.