Boxing was in Ray Downey’s blood; among the many members of his family who competed in the sport at the amateur and professional level were his father, Dave, who held the Canadian middleweight title for nearly eight years and his cousin, Billy, who won a gold medal in the featherweight division at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. Ray first appeared on the international scene at the 1983 World Junior Championships, where he placed fourth in the light-middleweight division. As Canadian champion in this category, he was selected to represent Canada at the 1988 Summer Olympics, where he defeated Jorge Oscar López of Argentina, Norbert Nieroba of West Germany, and Abrar Hussain Syed of Pakistan in the first three rounds to advance to the quarter-finals, where he overcame Martin Kitel of Sweden. He lost in the semi-finals to upcoming gold medalist Park Si-Heon of South Korea and settled for bronze.
Originally intending to turn professional after the Olympics, Downey remained an amateur and successfully defended his Canadian title in 1989. He then competed at the 1990 Commonwealth Games, where he captured a silver medal, losing to Richie Woodhall of England, who had won the other light-middleweight bronze medal at the 1988 Games. After being eliminated in the quarterfinals at the 1991 Pan American Games by Juan Carlos Lemus of Cuba, Downey attended the 1992 Summer Olympics but, recovering from an eye injury, he was defeated in the opening round by Hendrik Simangunsong of Indonesia (Lemus, meanwhile, went on to win the gold medal). Downey turned professional the following year and, although he never won a major title, retired in 2000 with an impressive record of 16-2-1.
Canada