As a follower of boxing and other sports I was impressed with Olympic Gold Medalists especially when I saw heavyweights some achieved their potential through the amateurs winning the ABAs and Golden Gloves and Commonwealth Games and AIBA Gold Medals and succeeded at profressional level whilst others didn't. At Heavyweight there are quite a few Gold Medal Matchups not sure for the other weight classes but here a few. Cassius Clay Muhammad Ali Vs Floyd Patterson (1965) Muhammad Ali Vs Joe Frazier (1971) Muhammad Ali Vs Floyd Patterson 2 (1972) Joe Frazier Vs George Foreman (1973) Muhammad Ali Vs Joe Frazier 2 (1974) George Foreman Vs Muhammad Ali (1974) Muhammad Ali Vs Joe Frazier 3 (1975) George Foreman Vs Joe Frazier 2 (1976) Muhammad Ali Vs Leon Spinks (1978) Leon Spinks Vs Muhammad Ali 2 (1978) Tyrell Biggs Vs Lennox Lewis (1991) Lennox Lewis Vs Ray Mercer (1996) Wladimir Klitschko Vs Ray Mercer (2002) Wladimir Klitschko Vs Alexander Povetkin (2013) Anthony Joshua Vs Wladimir Klitschko (2017) Anthony Joshua Vs Alexander Povetkin (2018) Anthony Joshua Vs Olexsandr Uysk (2021) Olexsandr Uysk Vs Anthony Joshua (2022) Any I missed out from the heavyweights? Is there any lower weight Gold Medal Match ups?
Off the top of my head, I can't think of any others. George beat me to the Lomo vs Rigo. I know this doesn't count but Holyfield really got screwed out of gold and ended fight Mercer and Lewis in the pros. I think you have all of them. Weird that they are almost all heavyweight fights.
I think Evander Holyfield got treated unfairly against Kevin Barry. He is as close to being at that level as you can get. You could also make the same arguement about the dubious judging of Roy Jones Jr Vs Park Si-hun and others may contest the controversial stoppage between Lennox Lewis and Riddick Bowe.
It's hard enough to get a Gold Medal and reperesent your country. However there are Gold Medalists who didn't quite fulfill their potential and transition well from the amateurs to the profressionals like Leon Spinks, Henry Tillman and Audley Harrison.
A blast from the past: Fidel LaBarba beat two Olympic champions - Frankie Genaro and Willie Smith A couple of more recent non-heavyweights: Torsten May vs Andrew Maynard Sugar Ray Seales vs Ronnie Harris
