Olympic Kings In Exile: Boxing’s Forgotten Champions

Ukraine’s Vasyl Lomachenko Had An Amateur Record Of 396-1, Winning Gold Medals in Both The 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympic Games.

As a Professional, Defeating The Only Boxer to defeat the Amateurs, Russian-Born Albert Selimov, Who Foodt Out of Baku, Azerbaijan, And Was Lost Twice in The Olympics.

LASZLO PAPP: The Pro They Blocked

Boxers Who Also Won Three Gold Medals Were Hungary’s Laszlo Papp, With A 301-12 Record.

He Won Olympic Gold Medals in the 1948 London, 1952 Helsinki, and the 1956 Melbourne Games. As a Professional, He Had A 27-0-2 Record. Promoter Lou Lucchese Once Told This Writer The FBI Showed Up On His Doorstep Asking Why Was Trying to Contact Popp. Being the Promoter of World Middleweight Joey Giardello, He Was Trying to Bring Papp to the US. Papp Was Allowed Only to Box in Certain European Country Country, Not Even in Hungary, Hey Was Told.

Teofilo Stevenson’s Olympic Empire

Among The Cuban Three-time Olympic Gold Medalists Were Heavyweight Teofilo StevensonWHO HAD A 302-22 Record. He Won Gold in the 1972 Munich, 1976 Montreal, and 1980 Moscow Games.

Another Cuban Heavyweight, Three-time Olympic Gold Medalist, Was Felix Savon, with a 362-21 Record. Due to a boycott, he didn’t appear in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. He Won Gold Medals in the 1992 Barcelona, ​​1996 Atlanta, and 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Mark Breland’s Golden Run

New York’s Mark Beland Had a 110-1 amateur record, Losing only to Darll Anthony, Whom He Defeated in The Pro Ranks. He won The WBA Wellterweight title. He Won Gold at The 1984 Olympics, Where Both Russia and Cuba Did Not Participate Due To The United States’ Boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.