Hebert Conceicao becomes fifth middleweight boxer to win Olympic gold via knockout

Olympics: Boxing-Aug 7

Hebert Conceicao of Brazil became the fifth men’s middleweight boxer all-time to win Olympic gold via a knockout. In an exciting gold medal winning bout on Saturday at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, Conceicao knocked down silver medalist Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine in the third round after losing each of the first two rounds to his opponent. The other four men’s middleweight boxers to win a gold medal via a knockout were Charles Mayer of the United States at the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, Floyd Patterson of the United States at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Gennadi Schatkov of the Soviet Union at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, and Vyacheslav Lemeshev of the Soviet Union at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. 

Conceicao became the second Brazilian boxer all-time to win Olympic gold. The first was Robson Conceicao, who won the gold medal in the men’s lightweight division at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

There were three other gold medalists in boxing at the Olympic Games in Tokyo on Saturday. Galal Yafai of Great Britain defeated Carlo Paalam of the Philippines in the men’s flyweight division in the final, Stoyka Krasteva of Bulgaria won gold in the women’s flyweight division by defeating Buse Naz Cakiroglu of Turkey in the gold medal final, and Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey won the gold medal in the women’s welterweight division by beating Gu Hong of China in the final bout.

Surmeneli not only was the first Turkish female boxer to win Olympic gold, but the first Turkish boxer to win Olympic gold as well. Women’s welterweight boxing was making its Olympic debut in Tokyo. Krasteva meanwhile was the first Bulgarian woman to win an Olympic medal in boxing. Four more Olympic boxing gold medal bouts will take place on Sunday, the final day of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.

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