Shatkov was born in
Leningrad and began boxing at 12 at Zhdanov
Young Pioneer Palace in Leningrad, where he was trained by Ivan Pavlovich Osipov. His first success was the 3rd place at the 1949 USSR Youth Championship in
Rostov on Don. Shatkov trained at
Burevestnik in Leningrad. He became
Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1957 and was awarded the
Order of Lenin in 1957. During his career he won 215 fights out of 227. He won the Middleweight (75 kg) gold medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic games. He also competed at the
1960 Summer Olympics in the
Light Heavyweight division (– 81 kg) but lost to 18-year-old
Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. (later known as Muhammad Ali) in the quarterfinals. Shatkov won gold medals at
1955 European Championship and
1959 European Championship, became USSR Champion in 1955, 1956 and 1958, and won gold medal in the I Summer
Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR in 1956. Along with his sports career Shatkov had a notable scientific one. After graduating from a secondary school he entered
Leningrad State University in 1951, received
Candidate of Judicial Sciences degree there in 1962, Three of his other wins were against illnesses. He had an
acute stroke in 1969 and two strokes in 1988. It took him five years to recover from the first one. He managed to restore impellent activity and speech after all three strokes. During years that passed after the first stroke he wrote 40 scientific papers and three books. He died in
Saint Petersburg on January 14, 2009, aged 76. == Olympic results ==