Heavyweight (>81 kilograms), Men

The favourite for the Olympic heavyweight title was America’s new “Great White Hope”, Minnesotan Duane Bobick. Bobick had won the Pan American Games gold medal in 1971 scoring a victory over young Cuban Teófilo Stevenson on his way to the title. Since then he had remained unbeaten and had scored a series of impressive victories including three victories on a US tour of the Soviet Union. Bobick and Stevenson scored comfortable victories in their first round bouts but were then drawn to face each other in the quarter-finals. From the start Stevenson used his jab to open the American’s defences and skewered him with a succession of hooks and uppercuts. Despite sporting an ugly swelling under his eye, Bobick briefly fought back in the second round but it was not enough and by the middle of round three his resistance had faded. The Cuban landed a right hand punch that sent Bobick crumpling to the canvas and, although he got back to his feet, the fight was stopped shortly afterwards. Stevenson followed this victory with another stoppage, this time over West Germany’s Peter Hussing in the semi-finals and then claimed the Olympic title by walkover when Ion Alexe was ruled out of the final with a broken thumb. The Cuban’s performance earned him the Val Barker Trophy as the best boxer of the Games and a reputation as the “new Muhammad Ali“. True to his communist beliefs he refused offers to defect and start a professional career and instead became one of the legendary figures of amateur boxing. He won three Olympic and three World amateur titles during his career.