Heavyweight (≤91 kilograms), Men

In truth this was only ever going to be a contest to see who else would stand on the podium below the outstanding Cuban Félix Savón and the rest of the competitors seemed overawed by the presence of the reigning Olympic Champion. After a tentative performance in his first bout he was completely untroubled in the path to the final and had even the luxury of a walkover in the semi-final.

The combatants in the semi-final that did take place would have been considered unlikely opponents for Savón at the time he won his first Olympic gold in 1992. David Defiagbon had competed in Barcelona for Nigeria as a light-middleweight but by 1996 he had changed nationality to Canadian and had added 20 kgs in weight to fight in the heavyweight division. In contrast American Nate Jones languished in prison for grand theft and larceny for most of 1992. Defiagbon sent Jones stumbling around the ring in round one then picked him off at will for a clear points victory.

Sadly for the crowd at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum Defiagbon’s tactics against Savón were extremely negative and he seemed only to be interested in reaching the final bell rather than winning the fight. This resulted in Savón winning on a landslide 20-2 score line and forcing the Canadian to take 2 standing counts.

Savón returned to win gold in 2000 and become one of only 3 fighters to claim gold medals in 3 successive Olympics. He also won a record 6 world championship gold medals during his career.