Every four years, the best athletes in the world converge upon one city to take part in the premier international competition, including boxing. Ahead of this year’s Paris Summer Olympics, we take a look at the 10 greatest pugilists to fight for gold at the Olympic games.
10. Oscar De La Hoya
While Oscar De La Hoya proudly picked up the baton from great Mexican fighters, the East Los Angeles native represented the United States on the international stage. Fueled by the dying wish of his mother, “The Golden Boy” spent two years preparing for the 1992 games in Barcelona.
The hard work paid off as De La Hoya scored an upset victory in the first round and avenged a previous loss in the finals. He walked away with the gold medal and began his legendary professional career.
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9. Lennox Lewis
Lennox Lewis is undoubtedly one of the best boxers that has come out of England. But as an amateur his dual citizenship allowed him to fly Canada’s flag at the 1984 and 1988 Olympic games. While he would come back from 1984’s trip to Los Angeles empty-handed, he’d have a second chance in Seoul.
In the finals, Lewis would finish Riddick Bowe to win the gold medal. Years later as a professional, Bowe would infamously throw his WBC belt in the trash at a press conference after he was ordered to defend the undisputed crown against the man who had defeated him in South Korea.
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8. Anthony Joshua
At 18 years old, Anthony Joshua first stepped into a boxing gym. Just five years later he’d be representing Great Britain in London just 15 miles from his hometown of Watford. Considered a novice on the international scene compared to his peers, Joshua had a tough path ahead in the super heavyweight division.
“AJ” benefited from some controversial close decisions and defeated eventual top-ranked heavyweight Zhilei Zhang to win the gold medal. A year later he would begin his championship professional career.
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7. Vasiliy Lomanchenko
What’s better than winning a gold medal? After winning the top prize in 2008 as a featherweight, Vasyl Lomanchenko sought to answer that question by duplicating that feat in 2012 as a lightweight.
The Ukrainian famously spent an unusual amount of time accruing experience as an amateur while many of his peers, including some of his fellow 2008 Olympians, chased success as professionals. When he finally made the transition in 2013, Lomanchenko quickly became a world champion.
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6. Roy Jones Jr.
When Roy Jones Jr breezed through the competition at the 1988 Olympic Games, it was a foregone conclusion that he would walk away with a gold medal before the judges’ decision was read. Surprisingly, despite outlanding Park Si-Hun 86-32, the South Korean would benefit from home cooking in Seoul.
An official investigation fell short of proving outright corruption, but South Korean officials are widely believed to have bribed officials and rigged the results. The silver lining is that it led to an overhaul of the scoring system.
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5. Sugar Ray Leonard
In 1976, Sugar Ray Leonard joined Leon and Michael Spinks as part of one of the greatest Team USA boxing teams in history for the Olympics in Montreal. His performance was just as spectacular as the ensemble he stood alongside.
Leonard shut out his opponents leading up to the finals, not dropping a single in any of the four decision wins. In the final, he’d force two standing eight counts against Andres Aldama, who went on to win gold in 1980.
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4. George Foreman
Despite being a two-time champion and becoming the oldest heavyweight to win the belt, George Foreman credits his Olympic gold medal as his greatest feat in the sport of boxing. “Big George” achieved this honor in 1968 in Mexico City.
Just over a year after his first amateur fight, Foreman was faced with a far more experienced Soviet veteran in the finals. The referee would stop the contest in the second round, his third consecutive finish to close out those Olympics games.
3. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd Mayweather Jr famously retired as an undefeated professional. The last time he lost a bout was in the semifinals of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. In an outcome eerily similar to that of Roy Jones Jr, the best boxer was unfairly denied his rightful place in history.
After soundly outboxing Bulgaria’s Serafim Todorov, everyone in attendance was shocked when the decision was read. The referee even mistakenly raised Mayweather’s hand as the announcement was made. A protest was filed, citing errors by the judges that were believed to be the result of intimidation from Bulgarian officials. As a result, the eventual “TBE” walked away with the bronze.
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2. Claressa Shields
At 17 years old, Claressa Shields would become a pioneer in women’s sports by winning Team USA’s first boxing gold medal. She earned that distinction at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She would double down on the accomplishment in Rio de Janeiro’s 2016 games.
That made her the first American boxer, male or female, to win gold in consecutive Olympics. She also walked away with the first women’s Val Barker Trophy; an honor reserved for the “most outstanding” boxer competing.
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1. Muhammad Ali
Before becoming a sports legend and one of the most important historical figures of the 20th century, Muhammad Ali was a young man from Kentucky named Cassius Clay who won a gold medal at the 1960 Olympic games in Rome.
After returning to his hometown as an American gold medalist he was denied service at a white-owned diner. And publicly referred to as the “Olympic n***er.” The experience left an impression on him as he drifted towards activism and his fame grew.
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