Flyweight (≤51 kilograms), Men

After losing a close and debatable decision to eventual gold medalist Paul Gonzales, Jr. at the 1984 Olympic Games, Kim Gwang-Seon rededicated himself to the sport with the intent of winning gold when his native South Korea hosted the 1988 Games. He won the Asian Games title in 1986 and was runner-up at the 1987 World Cup so he would have been a top contender wherever the Games were held.

In front of a partisan home crowd Kim rose to the occasion and defeated opponents from Mongolia, Zimbabwe, the USA and Bulgaria on the way to a re-match with Andreas Tews, the man who had narrowly beaten him in the final of World Cup, to decide the Olympic championships. The fight was a classic combination of styles with the stylish East German boxing from a distance and scoring heavily with his jabs and the crouching Korean attempting to force through his opponent’s defense and land flurries of punches at close range. Although the computer recorded that Tews landed 87 scoring punches against Kim’s 67 the Korean was favoured by four of the five judges (the sole exception being the American judge) and was duly awarded the gold medal.

Kim turned professional in 1990 and embarked on a career consisting of just eight fights although two of them were unsuccessful world title challenges.