[Rocco Del Sesto]

Ran across Koski's name in one of the Ring Magazine Continental rankings when I was actually looking up info on one of the other recent HW's working on. A name I'd not seen before. I looked and found him in by data base. A rating originally done by John Dewey I'm pretty sure finding it under the Miscellaneous ratings that he started and contributed so many of those. You'll see my redo is shook up quite a bit from John's after I did some play testing against many of his opponents also in my data base. Of course I've updated bio information as much as I could find.

Ilkka Koski - HW - Finland

Career Record: W7(KO3) / L1(KO1)/ D1

Unknown information has been left blank

Birth name: Ilkka Rikhard Koski

Original rating was posted by John Dewey under the Miscellaneous fighters in April 2010.

From en.wikipedia.org, From Finland, Koski completed in the 1952 and 1956 Olympics winning a bronze medal in 1952, but lost his first bout in 1956. In Finland, he held their amateur heavyweight title in 1951-1956 and 1958, then turning professional. Account says he retired in 1962 due to an injury. Inducted into the Finnish Boxing Hall of Fame in 2008.

Olympics.com website account says that in the 1952 Olympics he lost his semi-final bout to Ingemar Johansson. Then went on to win the bronz. In 1956 he lost to Italian Mino Bozzano.

Another website found, memim.com/ilkka-koski.html gives his birth place as Jyvaskyla on June, 10, 1928 and his DOD, Feb 28, 1993 in Helsinki.It gave some further detail of his Olympic career. In the 1952 games he first defeated Laszlo Bene, from Hungary by second round KO and then in beat Eddie Hearn from Great Britain on points. In the semifinals he lost a 1:2 decision to johansson. In 1956 he retired in the 2nd round against Giacomo Bozzano in his first round fight.

Sept 1958 Ring 06/01/58 - Ilkka Koski made his pro debut outscoring his opponent, "bloated" Hans Peter Drabes of Germany in 6 rounds.The writer makes the comment that Koski has already had his best years as an amateur.

Dec 1958 Ring 09/12/58 - Ilkka Koski uses his "bone-crushing right hand" to knock out Robert Warmbrunn in the first round.

March 1959 Ring May 1959 Ring had Koski ranked 10th in their Continental Heavyweight ratings for the month.

March 1959 Ring 12/01/58 Ilkka Koski and Hans Friedrich, Germany fought what was described as a "crude" bout won by Koski.

April 1959 Ring dropped Koski out of it's Continental Rankings relacing him with Jose Gonzalez at #10.

May 1959 Ring 02/02/59 - Ilkka Koski pounded out a clear points win in 8 rounds over Jose Gonzalez. Gonzalez, the account says took several counts. The short report mentions Koski did well to work his way towards the top Brackets. In this May 1959 Ring had Koski ranked 10th in their Continental Heavyweight ratings.

June 1959 Ring, Ilkka Koski was back at #10 HW in the Continental rankings.He got as high as #6 Rank In the July 1959 Ring and then ranked in gradually slipping until dropped from the top 10 in March 1960. Inactivity had a lot to do with that.

July 1959 Ring 04/17/59 - Ilkka Koski the report says "dismantled" Tongan Sifa Kivalu, and the reporter judged that Koski was showing great potential. The July 1959 Ring Continental Rankings put Koski at # 6 HW.

August 1959 Ring listed Ilkka Koski it's Heavyweight Prospect of the Month.

April 1960 Ring - 01/23/60 Ulli Nitzchke knocked out Ilkka Koski, 205 in the 2nd round avenging a loss to Koski back in thier amateur days. Koski was send down two times in the first round, but kept up the fight into the 2nd round before two rights and a left to the head dropped Koski for good.

Sept 1962 Ring - 06/03/62 After almost 2-1/2 years out of the ring, ilkka Koski fought a draw with Lars Olof Norling over 6 rounds in fight best described by Ring as mauling affair.

Nov 1962 Ring - 08/17/62, Ilkka Koski met up again with Lars Norling and this time easily won a 6 round points decision. This Ring accounts though quoted Koski afterward that Koski would not meet again with top boxers but stay with preliminary level bouts. "Too lazy to train in his 34 years!"

Various sites on line mention Koski retiring in 1962 after an injury.