Welterweight (≤67 kilograms), Men

This was a wide-open class with no well-known champions. The final came down to Cameroon’s Joseph Bessala, who had won all his early bouts easily, and had won the 1965 All-Africa Games and 1966 African Championships. He was pitted against Manfred Wolke of the GDR, with Wolke winning by majority decision, 4-1. Bessala was a Cameroonian hero and was given a car and a house for his efforts. David Wallechinsky in The Complete Book of the Olympics tells the story of the house, “ … Bessala returned to find his house occupied by a stranger – and realized that he had forgotten to ask for official papers for the house. Bessala was given a second house by the state, but was evicted without explanation several years later.” Bessala fought professionally from 1969-78, winning 14 fights, losing 2, with one draw. In 1978 he won the African Boxing Union welterweight title by decision over Bechir Boundka, but lost his next fight for that title to Mimoun Mohatar, and then retired. Wolke came back to box at the 1972 Olympics but lost in an early round and then became a coach.