What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

This is a lesson we had when I was in 4th grade. The story has the author, who in the beginning is very weak. There's a bully named Red with a knuckle duster and hits all the weak kids. He assaults the narrator one day. So with a friend, he learns Jiu Jitsu, from a book he picked from the library. He then hits when Red tries to punch him.
Please reply if you know the author or the book. I so want to read it.

I could not find the author's name, but here is a link to the story. It starts on the 17th page of the document.

http://kalvisolaionline.files.wordpre...

Thank you so much!!!!!!!
I would still like to know the author, I think this helps the search a lot! Thanks again...

I bet this is the book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Awesome!

Neha, come back and let us know if that's the right book.

It is. It's an amazing story. A must read.

A Soviet poet?

Good sleuthing work from Lisa and Neha!

Here's a random blog post confirming the source of the story:
http://obamaletsgosurfing.wordpress.c...

A Precocious Autobiography by Yevgeny Yevtushenko

Thank you for confirming the author.