Welterweight (≤67 kilograms), Men

Czechoslovakia’s Július Torma returned to defend his Olympic title but by 1952 he had been succeeded as European champion by Zygmunt Chychła of Poland who had embarked on a long unbeaten run since 1948. The draw pitted the two fighters together at the quarter-final stage and it was the Pole who emerged triumphant via a unanimous points decision. Chychła’s opponent in the final was Sergey Shcherbakov of the Soviet Union. The Soviets were making their first foray into international competition and Scherbakov was considered by team officials to be the poster boy for the USSR and a possible Olympic champion. To the surprise of the Soviets, though probably of few others, the technically gifted Pole was too good for his opponent and was a clear winner of the title. Chychła was European champion again in 1953 but retired soon afterwards after suffering from tuberculosis.