Boxers

ROY JONES JR. RECEIVES OLYMPIC GOLD FROM OPPONENT, MORE THAN THREE DECADES AFTER CONTROVERSIAL DECISION SAW HIM MISS OUT

Thirty-five years later, South Korea's Park Si-hun could not withstand the guilt of having a "stolen" gold medal because deep inside him he knew he was beaten clean by American Roy Jones Jr. in the final light-middleweight bout at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. I was near the ringside covering the Olympic Games for the KANU-owned Kenya Times newspaper. It was so shameful for the judges - grown up men with hair in their armpits - to declare Park the winner. Personally I was very annoyed with this madness. I felt like chewing the judges alive. Park's decision to hand over the gold medal is a big lesson to boxers who accept such controversial decisions. If a boxer knows he didn't win the fight just dispute the result immediately and tell the referee your opponent is the rightful winner. This is the only way these thieves at the ringside can stop their outrageous decisions. Jones Jr. revealed on his social media that two years ago, he was gifted the 1988 Olympic gold medal from his opponent Park Si-hun of South Korea. Jones Jr. was moved to tears after receiving the gold medal from what is widely regarded as one of the most controversial decisions in boxing history. What a moment for the boxing legend and a true act of kindness and sportsmanship. Photo by ESPN

ROY JONES JR. RECEIVES OLYMPIC GOLD FROM OPPONENT, MORE THAN THREE DECADES AFTER CONTROVERSIAL DECISION SAW HIM MISS OUT

One of the most controversial moments in Olympic history has taken a surprise twist with former South Korean boxer Park Si-hun handing his gol medal over to Roy Jones Jr.

Park defeated Jones Jr. by a 3-2 decision at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, even though the American dominated the light-middleweight title fight and was widely believed to be the rightful champion.

Among those to doubt the decision were Park himself, who has long held that he didn’t deserve to win the gold medal. And now, more than three decades after the fight, he has given the prize to his opponent.

In a touching video posted on Jones Jr.’s YouTube channel this week, the pair are seen meeting at the 56-year-old’s ranch in Pensacola, Florida to exchange the medal.

“He won the gold at the time, he had the gold, but he wants to give it back to you,” Park’s son explains in the video. “It belongs to you.”

The two former fighters stand hand-in-hand in a boxing ring as a clearly emotional Jones Jr. is told that he is receiving the medal, then adds: “Wow. That is crazy.”

“In 1988, I was robbed of the gold medal in what became one of the biggest controversies in boxing history,” Jones Jr. wrote on Instagram on Thursday.

“By the grace of God, a couple of years ago, the man who won that medal made the trip from South Korea to my home to return it to me, feeling it was rightfully mine. I hope you enjoy this moment as much as I did.”

According to the Associated Press, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) concluded in 1997 that it had found no evidence to support the bribery allegations made against the judges during the 1988 gold-medal bout.

Jones Jr. was nevertheless awarded the Val Barker Trophy for the best boxer across all weight divisions at the Olympics. He went on to become one of the greatest pound-for-pound boxers of all time, winning a world title in four divisions.

As for Park, who became a teacher and then a boxing coach, he has always maintained that he didn’t deserve to win the fight against Jones Jr.

“There’s hardened resentment built up in me that I will probably carry for the rest of my life,” he told AP in 2020. “I didn’t want my hand to be raised (after the fight), but it did go up, and my life became gloomy because of this.

Courtesy CNN.com