Olympic Gold Medal winners who never won a World title

[orbtastic]

Solis. The dude who went all spongebob and lost against vitali.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Solis. The dude who went all spongebob and lost against vitali.

Yh mentioned him. And other Audley..

A lot of Gold medal winners challenged for the world title, some flopped.. some were just apart of the wrong era.

[margaret thatcher]

ed sanders.........beat ingo johansson in the 52 final, then ended up somethign like 6-3 as a pro and died from a fight

torsten may......german dude, euro champ but no world title

robert wangila....rare kenyan gold medal winner, like sanders died from a fight

steve mccrory.......bro of milton. challenged fenech for a title but stopped in 5

[HomicideHenry]

Laszlo Papp... 3x gold medalist... Communism prevented him from going for the world title. Probably the biggest one of them all.

[orbtastic]

Biggs, contender for a while, boxed beautifully against Tyson for a round then got smashed.

Tillman, famously beat Tyson twice as an ama (may have kept him off the Olympic team) and lost to him as a pro, also lost to Holyfield, Cooper and DeWitt (whom he beat in the final for gold).

Maynard, won gold at the same Olympics as Jones lost that ridiculous decision to the Korean. Didn't quite catch fire as a pro, was too negative but ended up having a world title shot. Got iced by Hearns at cruiser. The same Olympics where Hembrick "missed the bus" and was DQ'd.

[rubberneck]

Hocine Soltani won gold in 1996 for Algeria.

https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/040589

Had a handful of pro fights, disappeared and then found dead a few years later.

[oogiebe]

Pete Radamacher always comes to mind first.

[Frostieballs]

Audley Harrison

How dare you. WBF!!!

[HomicideHenry]

Pete Radamacher always comes to mind first.

I love when people bring up classic examples. The only man to fight for the heavyweight title in his debut. He gave a good account of himself and had a pretty decent career. Was sad to hear he passed away last year. He stayed involved in the sport practically until the day he died.

[bennie]

ed sanders.........beat ingo johansson in the 52 final, then ended up somethign like 6-3 as a pro and died from a fight

torsten may......german dude, euro champ but no world title

robert wangila....rare kenyan gold medal winner, like sanders died from a fight

steve mccrory.......bro of milton. challenged fenech for a title but stopped in 5

I think McCrory made it to the later stages against Fenech in a good old-fashioned 15-rounder. Fenech was bitterly determined against McCrory because Fenech had boxed in the same Olympics as McCrory and at the same weight (fly). However, Fenech was eliminated on a narrow decision in the quarter-finals while McCrory, of course, went all the way to the gold medal. Fenech reckoned he was robbed in the Games (he wasn't) so beating McCrory was poetic justice to him.

[orbtastic]

Jorge Luis Gonzalez medalled a few times in the Pan-American games and had some great wins as an ama but was an oddball who was hugely arrogant. Who can forget that haircut and 6 round smashing by Bowe?

[bennie]

Sugar Ray Seales, although he did hold Marvin Hagler to a draw in the pros.

[JamesPhilips]

Not being funny but there will literally be hundreds of examples here.

Would be hundreds is you count all the fighters that never turned pro. But if we’re only looking at medallists who turned pro there must be fewer than 100 surely!?

Here are some off top of my head, who actually went pro.
Paul Gonzales (predicted to be 6 time world champion lol)
Jerry Page (forgotten man of 1984)
Henry Tillman

All 1984 teammates

Sugar Ray Seales

[dr_devious]

Sugar Ray Seales, although he did hold Marvin Hagler to a draw in the pros.

Was it a deserved draw or a hometown draw for Seales Bennie?

[bennie]

Sugar Ray Seales, although he did hold Marvin Hagler to a draw in the pros.

Was it a deserved draw or a hometown draw for Seales Bennie?

It was deserved. Hagler had previously outscored southpaw Seales in another competitive 10-rounder and later avenged the draw when he destroyed Seales in the first round but he respected Seales and was quite willing to give him a shot at his undisputed world middleweight title in the early 1980s. It nearly happened once or twice but Seales dropped a 12-round decision to James Shuler in late 1982 and that ruled him out, which really was for the best. In 1983, came the shocking revelation that Seales was legally blind. He had some vision and was actually driving (which he shouldn't have been) but he was forced to move back in with his mother in Seattle. Fortunately, his eyesight did spontaneously improve but it's still pretty bad and he struggles with it.

[dr_devious]

Great info as ever Bennie, thanks

[garethhop]

Luke Campbell is the first Bantamweight Gold Medallist who turned pro not to win a world title for something like 50 years as I recall (I looked at this some time ago)....

[Ruthless-RKO]

Luke Campbell is the first Bantamweight Gold Medallist who turned pro not to win a world title for something like 50 years as I recall (I looked at this some time ago)....

Wow..

Why did he turn pro a Lightweight?

Could have done Super featherweight.

[JamesPhilips]

Anton Josipovic Gold Light heavy LA 84. Went pro 8 wins 2 losses as a pro

I though I had one in Leo Randolph Montreal 1976 but he won super Bantam world title. Lost first defence

Ricardo Delgado - flyweight gold from Mexico at 1968 games. Never challenged for pro title

I think someone mentioned Ronnie Harris gold at lightweight Mexico 68. Lost in title shot vs Hugo Cotto. Fought as middle as a pro!

[Greg Houston]

Not being funny but there will literally be hundreds of examples here.

Only including those that turned pro.

Well there goes my smart arse reply of Dick McTaggart