Bantamweight (≤56 kilograms), Men

Lázaro Álvarez of Cuba was the reigning world champion and the favourite for the Olympic title but he faced a strong challenge from home favourite Luke Campbell who had pushed him hard in the 2011 World Championship final. Also rated highly were Məhəmməd Əbdülhəmidov of Azerbaijan and Ireland’s John Joe Nevin. The first of the four to fall was Əbdülhəmidov albeit in bizarre circumstances. The Azeri was declared the victor over Satoshi Shimizu of Japan by 22-17 despite falling to the canvas on six occasions in the final round. He was allowed to continue fighting each time by the referee from Turkmenistan but on appeal the AIBA ruled that at least three of the knockdowns were legitimate under the rules and should have forced an automatic victory for the Japanese fighter. The referee was barred from any further appearances at London 2012 for his performance.

Shimizu progressed to the last four where he fell to Campbell while the other semi-final produced an upset when Nevin gave a virtuoso performance to befuddle Álvarez on the way to a clear victory. With strong support within the venue for both men, the final was a close one for the first two rounds before the Briton drew away in the third and scored a knockdown during the round. Campbell was the first British boxer to win gold at bantamweight since 1908.