| Date | 28 July – 2 August 1952 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Messuhalli I, Helsinki | |
| Participants | 30 from 30 countries | |
| Format | Single elimination tournament. | |
The featherweight division was the most closely contested at the Helsinki Olympics, with over a third of the bouts being decided by a split decision of the judges. The man who survived the action unscathed was 23-year-old university student Ján Zachara of Czechoslovakia. Zachara survived three successive fights from the quarter-final onwards when one of the judges decided he had lost whilst the other two declared him the victor. He seemed especially lucky to defeat European champion Joseph Ventaja in a hotly disputed semi-final bout. Zachara, a locksmith by profession, won the gold by defeating Sergio Caprari of Italy. This was the only major tournament title for the Slovakian Zachara who returned to unsuccessfully defend his title in 1956.
| Pos | Number | Competitor | NOC | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 258 | Ján Zachara | Gold | |||
| 2 | 105 | Sergio Caprari | Silver | |||
| =3 | 188 | Joseph Ventaja | Bronze | |||
| =3 | 52 | Len Leisching | Bronze | |||
| =5 | 126 | Len Walters | ||||
| =5 | 172 | Lech Drogosz | ||||
| =5 | 265 | János Erdei | ||||
| =5 | 285 | Edson Brown | ||||
| =9 | 234 | Pentti Niinivuori | ||||
| =9 | 24 | Pedro Galasso | ||||
| =9 | 200 | Gheorghe Ilie | ||||
| =9 | 163 | Sydney Greve | ||||
| =9 | 223 | Willi Roth | ||||
| =9 | 123 | Stevan Redli | ||||
| =9 | 219 | Kurt Schirra | ||||
| =9 | 135 | Seo Byeong-Ran | ||||
| =17 | 38 | Ba Nyein | ||||
| =17 | 122 | Toshihito Ishimaru | ||||
| =17 | 71 | Benoy Bose | ||||
| =17 | 91 | Percy Lewis | ||||
| =17 | 147 | Yury Sokolov | ||||
| =17 | 3 | Ángel Leyes | ||||
| =17 | 44 | Salah Abbas | ||||
| =17 | 14 | Don McDonnell | ||||
| =17 | 76 | Emanoul Aghasi | ||||
| =17 | 83 | Tommy Reddy | ||||
| =17 | 31 | Georgi Malezanov | ||||
| =17 | 276 | Luis Aranguren | ||||
| =17 | 212 | Åke Wärnström | ||||
| =17 | 245 | Frédy Willommet | ||||
| 40 | Henry Jayasuriya | |||||
| 189 | Pierre Richaud | |||||
| 100 | Peter Brander | |||||
| 284 | Bobby Bickle | |||||
| 135 | Taisto Tuominen |
| Date | 28 July 1952 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to the second round. |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 28 Jul | Sergio Caprari | bye | ||||
| Match #2 | 28 Jul | Pentti Niinivuori | bye | ||||
| Match #3 | 28 Jul | Lech Drogosz | Decision | Ba Nyein | |||
| Match #4 | 28 Jul | Pedro Galasso | Decision | Toshihito Ishimaru | |||
| Match #5 | 28 Jul | Edson Brown | Decision | Benoy Bose | |||
| Match #6 | 28 Jul | Gheorghe Ilie | Decision | Percy Lewis | |||
| Match #7 | 28 Jul | Joseph Ventaja | Decision | Yury Sokolov | |||
| Match #8 | 28 Jul | Sydney Greve | Knock-out | Ángel Leyes | |||
| Match #9 | 28 Jul | Len Walters | Decision | Salah Abbas | |||
| Match #10 | 28 Jul | Willi Roth | Decision | Don McDonnell | |||
| Match #11 | 28 Jul | Len Leisching | Decision | Emanoul Aghasi | |||
| Match #12 | 28 Jul | Stevan Redli | Referee stops contest | Tommy Reddy | |||
| Match #13 | 28 Jul | János Erdei | Decision | Georgi Malezanov | |||
| Match #14 | 28 Jul | Kurt Schirra | Decision | Luis Aranguren | |||
| Match #15 | 28 Jul | Ján Zachara | Decision | Åke Wärnström | |||
| Match #16 | 28 Jul | Seo Byeong-Ran | Decision | Frédy Willommet |
| Date | 29 – 30 July 1952 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to the quarter-finals. |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | Sergio Caprari | Decision | Pentti Niinivuori | ||||
| Match #2 | Lech Drogosz | Decision | Pedro Galasso | ||||
| Match #3 | Edson Brown | Decision | Gheorghe Ilie | ||||
| Match #4 | Joseph Ventaja | Decision | Sydney Greve | ||||
| Match #5 | Len Walters | Decision | Willi Roth | ||||
| Match #6 | Len Leisching | Decision | Stevan Redli | ||||
| Match #7 | János Erdei | Decision | Kurt Schirra | ||||
| Match #8 | Ján Zachara | Decision | Seo Byeong-Ran |
| Date | 31 July 1952 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to the semi-finals. |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 31 Jul | Len Leisching | Decision | Len Walters | |||
| Match #2 | 31 Jul | Sergio Caprari | Decision | Lech Drogosz | |||
| Match #3 | 31 Jul | Ján Zachara | Decision | János Erdei | |||
| Match #4 | 31 Jul | Joseph Ventaja | Decision | Edson Brown |
| Date | 1 August 1952 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to the final match. |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 01 Aug | Sergio Caprari | Decision | Joseph Ventaja | |||
| Match #2 | 01 Aug | Ján Zachara | Decision | Len Leisching |
| Date | 2 August 1952 |
|---|
| Match | Date/Time | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match 1/2 | 02 Aug | Ján Zachara | Decision | Sergio Caprari |