Middleweight (≤75 kilograms), Men

Another boxer from the production line of champions that was Soviet amateur boxing in the sixties, Valery Popenchenko had already won four successive national titles and a European Championship gold by the time he arrived in Tokyo for the Olympic boxing tournament. He left Japan having advanced his reputation by winning three of his bouts by stoppage and winning every round of the other on all judges’ scorecards. Popenchenko faced off against old rival Emil Schulz of Germany in the final and cleared him out in a little over two minutes of the first round. For these displays he was awarded the Val Barker Trophy which is awarded to the most stylish boxer at an Olympic Games. He became the first Soviet boxer to receive the award. Popenchenko retired from boxing in 1965 with a record of 200 wins in 213 bouts. He died in a bizarre accident on a construction site in 1975.