Flyweight (≤51 kilograms), Men

The 1991 World Championship final had seen Hungary’s István Kovács defeat North Korea’s Choi Chol-Su in the final. Kovács had also won the 1991 European title but in Barcelona he met Choi in the semi-finals and the North Korean came out ahead, 10-5. In the final Choi faced Cuba’s Raúl González, with Choi winning easily, 12-2.

González would win a bronze medal at the 1995 World Championships, while Choi disappeared, as do so many North Korean athletes. Kovács won Olympic gold in 1996 as a bantamweight and repeated as European Champion in 1996 and won the Worlds again in 1997. He then turned professional, something that had become available to a Hungarian after the fall of the Eastern Bloc. In 2001 he won the WBO super-bantamweight world title, becoming the first Hungarian to win a world pro championship. In his first title defense again Pablo Chacón, a 1996 Olympic featherweight bronze medalist, Kovács was knocked out in the sixth round and was never again the same fighter, retiring in 2002 with a career record of 22-1.