Why and how exactly was Holyfield robbed of a gold metal?

The ref was Yugoslavian, the same nationality as the finalist Holy would've beaten.

It was a very harsh DQ imo

 

I agree that the disqualification of Evander Holyfield during the 1984 Olympics was absolutely unfair.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Viewing it as it happened, I heard the referee call, "Stop!, STOP!" twice before Evander unloaded that hook, probably because Kevin Barry had his left arm tightly wrapped around the back of Holyfield's neck in a head lock.

Evander said after that he didn't hear the referee say "Stop!," until after that punch was thrown, but the live sound replays clearly revealed this was not the case.

I blame the introduction of headgear into Olympic boxing as the true culprit here. Holyfield's right ear hole was covered by Barry's left arm in that moment, and that's the side the referee was on when he yelled, "Stop!," twice. If headgear had remained banned from Olympic competition, Evander would have heard those commands in time to obey the referee.

Strictly speaking, the referee's disqualification was the correct action, but Kevin Barry always knew it was his own fouling which prevented Holyfield from hearing the referee's command which caused Kevin to get clobbered. That's the true reason Barry admitted "This is wrong," when he got awarded the Silver Medal [and not allowed to compete for Gold because that extracurricular hook did knock him out].

There was no choice but to DQ Holyfield, when the referee had no chance to warn Barry about his blatant headlock. I'm sure that referee felt as badly as everybody else about what happened, but there was truly no option here.

An accusation was circulated that referee Gligorije Novici made a calculated decision in the heat of the moment to secure the Gold Medal for fellow Yugoslav Anton Josipovic, who had already qualified for the finals, but this is preposterous, especially in Los Angeles, and Josipovic felt as lousy about the situation as everybody else. Anton did respond with one of the classiest gestures in Olympic history though, when after the medal ceremony, he virtually dragged Holyfield up unto the top podium with him, and shook his hand, making the crowd abruptly shift from booing to loud cheers and applause, screaming in approval.

Following a brief professional career in which he decisioned a badly faded end of the line Saad Muhammad over eight, Josipovic became a sports journalist who covered Holyfield's career.

 

"Josipovic felt as lousy about the situation as everybody else. Anton did respond with one of the classiest gestures in Olympic history though, when after the medal ceremony, he virtually dragged Holyfield up unto the top podium with him, and shook his hand, making the crowd abruptly shift from booing to loud cheers and applause, screaming in approval."

If it was me, I would have given Holyfield the gold medal then swapped the bronze with Barry for his silver right there on the podium...

 

Well, they didn't have a chance to actually square off, so that would have been a presumptuous gesture. Also, Josipovic was not representing a "free" nation, so there might have been an element of considerable risk to him and his family for such an act. [As it was, he actually did get shot twice in a Bosnia bar in November 1997.]

Emil Zatopek famously gave Ron Clarke the Gold Medal Zatopek won in the 10,000 meters at the 1952 Helsinki Games in 1968, sneaking it into Clarke's luggage without Ron discovering what it was until opening the package during his flight home. I don't know when Clarke publicly revealed that, but I'd be surprised if he didn't wait until after the fall of the Iron Curtain, and maybe, just maybe, not until Zatopek's passing in November 2000. If such a thing happened between Josipovic and Holyfield, I'd keep it quiet and private myself.

 

No. It was an early morning shooting which resulted in arm and liver wounds which hospitalized him in serious, but not life threatening condition, and made a full recovery. There's not much English language information currently available on him.

 

It's not like it's the first time a US fighter hasn't gotten screwed over in boxing at the Olympics. Won't be the last either.

 

In the Olympics, Holyfield was a monster, stopping every one of his opponents, including the one he lost to in the semifinals. Against New Zealand’s Kevin Barry, both Holyfield and Barry seemed unable to respond to the referee’s commands to stop.

In the 1st round, Holyfield was hit after the Yugoslavian referee Novicic said “stop.” Shortly thereafter, Holyfield hurt Barry, who was given a standing 8 count. Holyfield threw a combination at Barry after the bell.

In the 2nd round, Barry held and hit Holyfield after the referee told them to stop. The referee took a point off from Barry. Holyfield threw a hook after the referee said “stop” and Evander was cautioned for slapping.

At that time, in amateur boxing, three cautions for holding result in a warning, meaning a point off. Three warnings mean disqualification. Despite more than three cautions for holding behind the head and many more infractions by Barry, it took quite a while for the referee to finally take a point off for holding late in the 2nd round. At that point, Barry had two warnings, so one more would mean disqualification.

Holyfield was held behind the head once again and threw a right to Barry’s body. The referee said “stop,” apparently to issue the third warning to Barry, which would have resulted in his disqualification. The referee said “stop” just as Evander threw another right to the body. After the referee said “stop,” Evander threw a left hook to the head and dropped Barry. Barry was given a standing 8 and the bout was stopped. Instead of Barry being disqualified, it was Holyfield who was disqualified for a harm foul. If he hadn’t thrown that punch, he likely would have won via disqualification or stoppage.

Although it was part of a combination, the hook was after the referee said “stop.” Holyfield probably could have stopped the punch because it hadn’t actually been in forward motion at the time the referee issued his command. Neither fighter had been very good at obeying the referee’s commands throughout the bout. However, the crowd booed vehemently because it was highly likely that Evander would have won the gold.

What made it more interesting was that the referee was Yugoslavian and the winner of Holyfiled v. Barry was to meet a Yugoslavian, Anton Yosipovic, in the final. Since Evander was disqualified, and Barry was stopped on head blows and therefore could not be allowed to box in a subsequent bout, there would be no final. The Yugoslavian won the gold on a walkover, Barry won the silver, and Holyfield won the bronze. Some felt there had been a conflict of interest having a Yugoslavian referee when the winner was to meet a Yugoslavian. However, despite the irony, it does not appear there was dirty pool in this one. Holyfield took the loss in a classy manner and did not complain, even admitting later that the blow was delivered after the referee’s command. In a gesture of sportsmanship, gold medalist Yosipovic took Evander’s hand on the victory stand and brought him up to the gold medal stand to stand alongside him.