Heavyweight (≤91 kilograms), Men

Yevgeny Tishchenko of Russia and Erislandy Savon of Cuba had contested the World Championship final in 2015 and were seeded to meet once again in the Olympic final. All went to plan until the semi-final when Savon, who had competed at super-heavyweight in 2012, was upset by Vasily Levit of Kazakhstan.

The final was the most controversial of the entire Rio boxing programme. Levit appeared to many to have been the busier and more accurate puncher throughout the bout but the Russian was awarded the victory with judges from Ireland, Colombia and Algeria voting 29-28 in favour of Tishchenko. Booing and hoots of derision echoed from both the Kazakh supporters and the neutrals in the crowd. This carried through to the medal ceremony where Levit had to gesture for them to quieten down and subdue their complaints. The Kazakhstan Boxing Federation decided to reward Levit with $150,000, the same amount he would have won if he had won the gold medal.