Middleweight (≤75 kilograms), Men

The favorite was Matvey Korobov of Russia, World Champion in 2005 and 2007. But he went out in the third round to Kazakh Bakhtiyar Artayev, the 2004 Olympic welterweight champion. In turn, Artayev lost his next match to Britain’s James DeGale, silver medalist at the 2006 Europeans. Next for DeGale was his nemesis, Darren Sutherland of Ireland, who had won four of five previous bouts against DeGale. But he lost this one, DeGale winning 10-3 to move onto the finals. There he met Cuban Emilio Correa, 2007 Pan American Champion, and bronze medalist in this class at the 2005 Worlds.

The final was very close, with DeGale moving ahead early and holding on to win by a 16-14 decision. The margin was the two points Correa was penalized in the first round for biting. After the Olympics DeGale turned professional, posting a record of 12 wins and 1 loss thru April 2012. Correa’s silver medal continued the Cuban gold medal shutout in Beijing, as 2008 would mark the first time since 1968 that no Cuban won a boxing gold medal, as they won “only” four silvers and four bronzes.