{"id":116958,"date":"2025-09-04T00:37:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T00:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/116958\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T00:37:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T00:37:10","slug":"roy-jones-jr-receives-1988-gold-medal-decades-after-controversial-loss-in-seoul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/116958\/","title":{"rendered":"Roy Jones Jr. receives 1988 gold medal decades after controversial loss in Seoul"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roy Jones Jr.<\/a> has the gold medal from the 1988 Olympics<\/a> \u2014 thanks to a gift from the South Korean fighter who defeated him in the controversial boxing<\/a> match.<\/p>\n

Park Si-hun travelled to Jones’ ranch in Pensacola, Florida, two years ago and gave the Hall of Famer the medal that Jones seemed to have earned in a bout most observers outside of the judges believed he dominated.<\/p>\n

The news was revealed this week in a video posted on Jones’ YouTube page.<\/p>\n

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Jones went to his gym on May 30, 2023, believing it was for an on-camera interview. Instead, he found Park in the ring and both fighters\u2019 families there.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Italy referee Aldo Leoni holding up hand of victorious South Korea Park Si-Hun (R) after winning vs upset USA Roy Jones Jr. (L) after Light Middleweight Final at Chamshil Students’ Gymnasium. Park defeated Jones for gold medal on controversial decision by judges. Seoul, South Korea 10\/2\/1988 CREDIT: John Iacono (Photo by John Iacono \/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Set Number: X37085 )\u00a0Sports Illustrated via Getty Ima<\/p>\n

\u201cI had the gold medal, but I wanted to give it back to you. It belongs to you,\u201d Park said through his son, who translated.<\/p>\n

Park was awarded a 3-2 decision in the light middleweight title bout in Seoul, South Korea, lifting the stunned Jones into the air in the ring after the result was announced.<\/p>\n

Jones dominated the fight, landing nearly triple the blows of his opponent, with the result labelled as perhaps the worst in Olympic boxing history.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Joe Rogan podcast in 2020, Jones Jr said he spoke to Park in the change rooms after the fight.<\/p>\n

“I went back and asked the interpreter to ask him if he really thought he beat me. Because if he said yes \u2014 he didn’t know this \u2014 but he was going to get knuckled,” Jones Jr said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Boxing: 1988 Summer Olympics: USA Roy Jones Jr. upset after losing Light Middleweight Final to South Korea Park Si-Hun at Chamshil Students’ Gymnasium. Park defeated Jones for gold medal on controversial decision by judges. Seoul, South Korea 10\/2\/1988 CREDIT: John Iacono (Photo by John Iacono \/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Set Number: X37085 )\u00a0Sports Illustrated via Getty Ima<\/p>\n

“But he said ‘No, I know I didn’t win but it wasn’t my fault, it was the judges’.<\/p>\n

“I shook his hand, I left and I never had another bad feeling towards him because he didn’t do it.<\/p>\n

“It (the support I received) was a beautiful thing and that’s the blessing above all for me.<\/p>\n

“To me it was god’s way of making me not put my life on idle, but turn me up on high.<\/p>\n

“I had no clue what he was doing but that’s why you just trust in god and look at me now.<\/p>\n

“But it hurt the sport of boxing, especially amateur boxing.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Park and Roy Jones Jr in 2023.\u00a0Roy Jones Jr YouTube<\/p>\n

“It hurt it because, you take a kid 19 years old, he defeats his rival clearly and you rob him?”<\/p>\n

Park told AP in 2020: “The hardened resentment built up in me that I will probably carry for the rest of my life.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t want my hand to be raised (after the fight with Jones), but it did go up, and my life became gloomy because of that.<\/p>\n

“I keep thinking how my life would have been happier had I finished second. A gold medal is important, but isn’t any Olympic medal satisfying and glorious?”<\/p>\n

Two of the judges who scored the fight for Park were banned from judging Olympic boxing, and the scoring system was changed in an attempt to prevent future controversies.<\/p>\n

Park said the criticism he received and the depression he felt sometimes led to suicidal urges.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The moment was emotional for the former champion.\u00a0Roy Jones Jr YouTube<\/p>\n

The International Olympic Committee in 1997 concluded it had found no evidence to support bribery allegations against the judges who voted in favour of Park.<\/p>\n

The US Olympic Committee had called for an investigation in 1996 after documents belonging to East Germany\u2019s Stasi secret police revealed reports of judges being paid to vote for South Korean boxers.<\/p>\n

Despite not winning gold, Jones was awarded the Val Barker Trophy for the best boxer in the Games. He went on to win titles in four weight classes from middleweight to heavyweight and went 66-9 as a pro.<\/p>\n

Park retired from boxing after the Olympics but later became a coach.<\/p>\n

If you or anyone you know needs immediate support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or via lifeline.org.au<\/a>. In an emergency, call 000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roy Jones Jr. has the gold medal from the 1988 Olympics \u2014 thanks to a gift from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-116958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}