Light-Welterweight (≤63.5 kilograms), Men

The 1999 World Champion was Mukhammad Kadyr Abdullayev of Uzbekistan. He had a relatively easy time getting to the final in Sydney. But in the other semi-final the United States’ Ricardo Williams faced Cuba’s Diógenes Luña in what has been described as the best bout of the 2000 Olympic boxing tournament. Luña led 29-15 after two rounds, only one point away from the bout being stopped automatically. But Williams stormed back to lead 35-31. In the fourth round, flagging from his comeback efforts, Williams held on to defeat Luña 42-41, holding on in the last 20 seconds once he had secured the lead.

At the 1999 World Championships Abdullayev had met Williams in the second round, winning 11-4. Sydney was more of the same, with Abdullayev jumping out to an early lead and maintaining it, winning the gold medal by decision, 27-20.

After the Olympics, Ricardo Williams turned pro but he had little success, never training properly. In 2005 he was arrested and convicted of conspiracy to traffic in cocaine and was sentenced to three years in jail. After serving 31 months, he was released and returned to professional boxing. Abdullayev also turned professional after Sydney, with a 21-4 record through 2011. In 2005 he fought for the WBO light-welterweight world title but lost to Miguel Cotto.