by Sage Kalmus

Created on: April 26, 2008   Last Updated: August 07, 2008

When scouring the Olympic history books for uncompromising excellence, three boxers stand out as being the most accomplished and revered of all-time: Felix Savn, Lszl Papp, and Tefilo Stevenson. They are distinctive in being the only three boxers to win three Olympic gold medals.

Felix Savn - This Cuban phenomenon won three consecutive gold medals in Olympic boxing in the heavyweight division (1992, 1996, and 2000). He also won the gold medal at 7 World Amateur Championships (1986, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1999). He won the Cuban heavyweight title every year but two (1999 and 2000) from 1985 until his retirement (which he announced at 33 years of age after his 3rd Olympic gold medal win). Additionally, he won 3 gold medals in the 1987, 1991, and 1995 Pan American Games. Since starting as an amateur boxer in 1980 (he never went professional) he notched up a lifetime career record is a stunning 362-21.

Lszl Papp - This Hungarian sensation was the first Olympic boxer to win three gold medals successively, which he accomplished in 1948, 1952, and 1956. He was twice-named the European boxing champion, in 1949 as a middleweight and in 1951 as a light middleweight. As an amateur boxer, he achieved 55 first-round knockouts. Once turning professional, Papp had an illustrious undefeated career with 27 wins (15 of which were knockouts) and only 2 draws.

Tefilo Stevenson - The 1972 gold medal win that earned this Cuban powerhouse the Val Barker Trophy only scratches the surface for Tefilo Stevenson. He also won the heavyweight gold again in the next two consecutive Olympic games, in 1976 and 1980. He was also a 3-time gold medalist in the World Amateur Championships and a 3-time medalist in the Pan American Games (winning the bronze in 1971 and the gold in 1975 and 1979).

Beyond those three unparalleled champions of Olympic boxing, another way of singling out the best Olympic boxers of all-time is to examine the list of Val Barker Trophy winners. Since 1936, the Val Barker Trophy (or Val Barker Cup) has been awarded to the most outstanding and stylistic boxer at each Summer Olympics. The following are those 16 exceptional Olympic boxers (along with any other Olympic appearances and/or wins to their credit):

Louis Laurie (USA), flyweight, bronze, 1936

George Hunter (South Africa), light heavyweight, gold, 1948

Norvel Lee (USA), light heavyweight, gold, 1952

Richard McTaggart (United Kingdom), lightweight, gold, 1956 - (went on to win the bronze in the same division in 1960, and competed on the 1964 Olympic boxing team)

Nino Benvenuti (Italy), welterweight, gold, 1960

Valery Popenchenko (Soviet Union), middleweight, gold, 1964

Philip Waruinge (Kenya), featherweight, bronze, 1968 - (also competed on the 1964 Olympic boxing team, and in 1972 won the silver medal in the same weight-class)

Tefilo Stevenson (Cuba), heavyweight, gold, 1972

Howard Davis (USA), lightweight, gold, 1976

Patrizio Oliva (Italy), light welterweight, gold, 1980

Paul Gonzales (USA), light flyweight, gold, 1984

Roy Jones (USA), light middleweight, silver, 1988

Roberto Balado (Cuba), super heavyweight, gold, 1992

Vassily Zhirov (Kazakhstan), light heavyweight, gold, 1996

Oleg Saitov (Russia), welterweight, gold, 2000 - (he had also won the 1996 gold medal in the same weight division, following up both that and his 2000 win with a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics)

Bakhtiyar Artayev (Kazakhstan), welterweight, gold

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