Bantamweight (≤54 kilograms), Men

Missing from the 1972 Olympic Games was European champion Tibor Badari who was a victim of political wrangling within the Hungarian team. In his absence Ricardo Carreras of the USA, Orlando Martinez of Cuba and Juan Francisco Rodríguez, a Spaniard who had been European flyweight champion, appeared the most likely medal contenders. Rodríguez was the first of the three to be eliminated although it came in bizarre circumstances. Fighting Alfonso Zamora of Mexico in the quarter-finals Rodriguez was sent to the canvas in the final round of their bout. He was up at the count of eight but realized that his gum-shield had been knocked loose and bent down to pick it up. This was misinterpreted by the referee as a sign that he was about to slump back down to the floor and the count was continued to ten. Zamora, who trained in Mexico alongside the legendary bantamweight Ruben Olivares, then continued his streak by eliminating Carreras in the semi-final.

Awaiting Zamora was Orlando Martínez, who had reached the final despite not being overly impressive in his preliminary bouts. Fortunately for the Cuban his style of fighting worked well against the Mexican and he won a unanimous decision after knocking down Zamora at the end of round one. Martinez failed in his attempt to defend his crown in Montréal by which time Zamora was in the middle of his run as WBA world champion in the professional game.