Welterweight (≤67 kilograms), Men

In 1991 Cuba’s Juan Hernández Sierra won gold medals at the Pan American Games and the World Championships and came to Barcelona as the favorite in this class. He had an easy time getting to the final, where he met Ireland’s Michael Carruth, bronze medalist at the 1989 Worlds. Carruth had fought as a lightweight at the 1988 Olympics, but did not win a medal and was not considered a major challenger in Barcelona. He made it to the final after upsetting Germany’s Andreas Otto, 1989 World runner-up, in the quarter-finals. All Ireland watched, as they love boxing, and no Irish athlete had won Olympic gold in any sport since Ronnie Delany in the 1956 1,500 metres in track & field athletics.

The final was close with Carruth leading 4-3 after the first round. Despite three penalty points in round two, Carruth remained tied, 8-8, heading into the final round. But Hernández flagged in the final round and Carruth had his, and Ireland’s, gold medal, 13-10. Carruth was an Irish soldier and was promoted to sergeant on his return to Eire. He served out his military service and turned professional in 1994, fighting through 2000 with a career record of 18-3. He had two world title fights, in 1997 and 2000, but lost them both. The final was a major upset as Hernández would become one of the greatest amateur fighters of the 1990s. He won the World Championships again in 1993, 1995, and 1999, and repeated his Pan American gold in 1995. In 1996 he returned to the Olympics, but it was not to be as he again lost in the final, this time to Russian Oleg Saitov.