Light-Welterweight (≤63.5 kilograms), Men

The American team that arrived in Germany was considered the best all round team to leave their shores since 1952 but only one, Ray Seales, returned to the US as Olympic champion. With no seeding it was always possible that two of the favourites could be drawn to meet each other and that is exactly what happened in the first round in Munich. Seales was drawn against the reigning European Champion, Ulrich Beyer of East Germany. The bout lived up to expectations as first Seales and then Beyer took the upper hand over the course of the fight. The fight was effectively decided in the last minute when Seales launched a blistering attack which shook his opponent to his boots. It was enough give the American the win in the eyes of three of the five judges. Despite another close call in the quarter-finals Seales advanced to the final where he would face Angel Angelov of Bulgaria. The gold medal bout was a textbook clash between the upright technical Eastern European style of Angelov and the looser, more aggressive American. With little to choose between the two men the decisive moment came in the first round when Seales knocked the Bulgarian to the floor. After the Olympics Seales embarked on a professional career. He fought some of the best boxers in the middleweight division including world champions Marvin Hagler and Alan Minter but, although he held the North American championships, never managed to get a shot at the world title. He suffered serious damage to his retina during his career and was declared legally blind in the mid-eighties. Seales later worked with autistic high school students.