Gyula Török took up boxing in 1948 and was on the Hungarian national team from 1958-64, which is considered one of the golden eras of Hungarian boxing. A two-time Hungarian flyweight champion (1957-58), Török’s first success at the top level was a flyweight silver medal at the 1959 European Championships after losing to German Manfred Homberg by points. The high point of Török’s career was at the 1960 Olympics, where he defeated three opponents by decision and one by knock-out to reach the final against Soviet Sergey Sivko. The Olympic flyweight final between Török and Sivko was closely fought, with the gold awarded to Török after a narrow 3-2 decision.
After the 1960 Olympics, Török switched to bantamweight and although he won three Hungarian bantamweight titles (1961, 1962 and 1964), he was less successful at the international level. As a bantamweight, Török fought at the 1961 European Championships, where he lost his quarter-final bout to Italian Primo Zamparini, and at the 1964 Olympics, where he was knocked out in his round one bout by Soviet Oleg Grigoryev. Török retired from sports in 1966 and for the next 40 years worked at the Kispest Granite Factory. Török also remained active in boxing circles as a coach, serving as the boxing coach for Építők SC from 1976-78 and for Csepel SC from 1978-81. In 1993, Török was briefly head coach of the Hungarian national team and he later worked as an assistant coach for the Hungarian national team and was also an advisor to the president of the Hungarian Boxing Federation.
Hungary