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Roy Jones Jr. finally gets his gold medal
Roy Jones Jr. brought to tears as Park Si-Hun gifts gold medal decades after 1988 Olympic controversy
More than 36 years later, Park Si-Hun's gold medal win over the legendary four-division champion Roy Jones Jr. is still perhaps the most controversial decision in Olympic boxing history.
Jones famously dominated his light middleweight final against Park at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, but was robbed of the victory as a shocking 3-2 split decision went in favor of the native South Korean.
Jones out-landed Park by a margin of 86-32 in total punches over the distance — 20-3 in Round 1, 30-15 in Round 2 and 36-14 in Round 3. The result was assumed to be a clear win for Jones, who many believed had won all three of the rounds, yet still the judges denied the American of his Olympic dream.
Following the controversy, all three of the bout's judges — Bob Kasule of Uganda, Uruguay's Alberto Durán and Hiouad Larbi of Morocco — were subsequently suspended for six months, with two of them later banned for life. The 1988 incident led to sweeping changes in the way Olympic boxing was scored, with a new computerized scoring model implemented to avoid bias and corruption.
Larbi later admitted that Jones had won the fight easily, but he awarded it to Park to spare the home country embarrassment, expecting his four fellow judges to give Jones the win.
Jones and Park's lives took very different turns after their historic bout. Jones reached the pinnacle of the sport in a 34-year pro career following the Olympic setback, becoming a decorated Hall of Famer and one of the greatest fighters of all time. Park, on the other hand, never recovered from winning that night.
He battled severe depression and overcame multiple suicide attempts in the years after the decision. Because of the nature of the controversy, Park was never glorified in South Korea for winning gold and retired from boxing soon after, becoming a high school physical education teacher rather than pursuing a lucrative pro career.
More than three decades later, Jones and Park were reunited in an emotional and heartwarming scene in May 2023, which was first unveiled Wednesday and can watched below.
In the clip, Park surprises Jones — who believes he's at the gym for an unrelated interview — and presents Jones with his long-deserved Olympic gold medal.
"I had the gold medal, but I wanted to give it back to you," Park tells Jones via a translator, bringing Jones to tears. "It belongs to you. ... This gold medal is your problem now."
Although Jones can never be reimbursed for the joy he would've received from winning Olympic gold at 19, he can at least sleep with the knowledge that the medal always was — and now rightfully is his.
https://sports.yahoo.com/boxing/arti...201110152.html
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