Featherweight (≤126 pounds), Men

Two names missing from the competition were the top rated American Joe Church, sent home from Berlin by the US boxing team management for disciplinary reasons, and Otto Kästner, the European champion who had been supplanted in the German team by Josef Miner. Miner was considered one of the best fighters in the division, along with Charlie Catterall of South Africa, who was the British Empire Games champion, and Dezső Frigyes of Hungary.

The only stoppage of the first series was that of Felipe Gabuco of the Phillipines, carried out by the “replacement” US boxer Ted Kara in the most impressive display of the early rounds. Kara was not to fight for a medal, as he fell victim to the tricky Catterall in the quarter-finals. Óscar Casanovas of Argentina came to notice when he defeated future European champion Aleksander Polus of Poland with ease in the last eight, and he followed this up with another impressive victory against the talented Hungarian Frigyes in the semi-finals. The South African Catterall built upon his reputation with a victory over the home boxer Miner, in front of an excited Berlin crowd, and guaranteed what was to be South Africa’s only medal of the Games.

The final produced a clash of styles, the Argentine edging to victory with a late flourish, landing a series of hooks on his opponent. Although this continued the run of Argentine boxing victories that had started in 1928, the Argentine team themselves were disappointed with only a single gold medal.

Catterall later became a South African professional champion, whilst Miner was a victim of World War II.