László Papp

Template:Short description {{#invoke:Other people|otherPeople}} Template:Eastern name order Template:Infobox boxer

László Papp (25 March 1926 – 16 October 2003) was a Hungarian professional boxer from Budapest. He was left-handed and won gold medals in the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, and the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia. In his final Olympic competition he became the first boxer in Olympic history to win three successive gold medals. He won 12 of his 13 Olympic fights without losing a round, dropping only one, in his last Olympic final, to American boxer José Torres. There was not another triple gold medalist for 20 years, when Cuba's Teófilo Stevenson won three, followed by another Cuban Félix Savón as the third of the three men to accomplish the feat.

Amateur career

Papp was an Olympic gold medalist three times,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> at middleweight in London in 1948, then as a light middleweight in Helsinki in 1952 and in Melbourne in 1956. Papp also was the European amateur middleweight champion as a middleweight in 1949 at Oslo and at light middleweight at Milan in 1951. He scored 55 first-round knockouts as an amateur, his record was 301-12-6.

Olympic results

1948 London (England)

• Defeated Valfrid Resko (Finland) KO 2
• Defeated Jean Welter (Luxembourg) KO 1
• Defeated Auguste Cavignac (Belgium) KO 1
• Defeated Ivano Fontana (Italy) 3-0
• Defeated John Wright (England) 3-0

1952 Helsinki (Finland)

• Defeated Ellsworth Webb (United States) KO 2
• Defeated Charlie Chase (Canada) KO 2
• Defeated Petar Stankoff Spassoff (Bulgaria) 3-0
• Defeated Eladio Oscar Herrera (Argentina) 3-0
• Defeated Theunis Jacobus van Schalkwyk (South Africa) 3-0

1956 Melbourne (Australia)

• Defeated Alberto Saenz (Argentina) KO 3
• Defeated Zbigniew Pietrzykowski (Poland) 3-0
• Defeated José Torres (USA) 2-1

Professional career

Papp, despite having hand trouble, turned professional in 1957 and immediately began rising in the Middleweight ranks. However, Hungary was a Communist country at the time and professional boxing was not permitted. Papp had to travel to Vienna, in Austria, for training and for his fights. In spite of this disadvantage, he beat several top-ranking contenders for the European Middleweight title, including veteran Tiger Jones, French champion Hippolyte Annex and Chris Christensen. After Christensen, Papp defeated Randy Sandy of the United States. In 1964, after Papp had already signed up for the world championship title bout against Joey Giardello, Hungary's Communist leadership brought his professional career to an end by denying him an exit visa.

Papp is one of the few boxers in history to ever retire undefeated in the ring. His fighting record was 27 wins, 2 draws, and no losses. 15 of his wins were by way of knockout.

Death

László Papp died in Budapest in 2003.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Honours

Papp was inducted into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame in 2001. In 1989 WBC President José Sulaimán gave Papp an award for 'Best amateur and professional boxer of all time' and granted him honorary champion status of the World Boxing Council.

Professional boxing record

Template:Abbr	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
29	Template:Yes2Win	27–0–2	Mick Leahy	PTS	15	Oct 9, 1964	Template:Small	Template:Small
28	Template:Yes2Win	26–0–2	Christian Christensen	KO	4 (15)	Jul 2, 1964	Template:Small	Template:Small
27	Template:Yes2Win	25–0–2	Harry Scott	PTS	10	Mar 13, 1964	Template:Small
26	Template:Yes2Win	24–0–2	Luis Folledo	TKO	8 (15)	Dec 6, 1963	Template:Small	Template:Small
25	Template:Yes2Win	23–0–2	Charley Cotton	KO	7 (10)	Jun 14, 1963	Template:Small
24	Template:Yes2Win	22–0–2	Randy Sandy	PTS	10	May 17, 1963	Template:Small
23	Template:Yes2Win	21–0–2	Peter Müller	TKO	4 (15)	Mar 30, 1963	Template:Small	Template:Small
22	Template:Yes2Win	20–0–2	George Aldridge	TKO	15 (15)	Feb 6, 1963	Template:Small	Template:Small
21	Template:Yes2Win	19–0–2	Hippolyte Annex	KO	9 (15)	Nov 19, 1962	Template:Small	Template:Small
20	Template:Yes2Win	18–0–2	Christian Christensen	TKO	7 (15)	May 16, 1962	Template:Small	Template:Small
19	Template:Yes2Win	17–0–2	Ralph 'Tiger' Jones	PTS	10	Mar 21, 1962	Template:Small
18	Template:Yes2Win	16–0–2	Michel Francois	TKO	2 (10)	Dec 2, 1961	Template:Small
17	Template:Yes2Win	15–0–2	Peter Müller	TKO	4 (10)	Oct 13, 1961	Template:Small
16	Template:Yes2Win	14–0–2	Peter Müller	TKO	8 (10)	Sep 10, 1961	Template:Small
15	Template:Yes2Win	13–0–2	Moussa Sangare	PTS	10	Apr 8, 1961	Template:Small
14	Template:Yes2Win	12–0–2	Sauveur Chiocca	PTS	10	Feb 20, 1961	Template:Small
13	Template:DrawDraw	11–0–2	Giancarlo Garbelli	PTS	10	Dec 26, 1960	Template:Small
12	Template:Yes2Win	11–0–1	Mohammed Boudib	KO	7 (10)	Oct 1, 1960	Template:Small
11	Template:Yes2Win	10–0–1	Erich Walter	KO	9 (10)	Sep 23, 1960	Template:Small
10	Template:Yes2Win	9–0–1	Lou Perry	PTS	10	Feb 10, 1960	Template:Small
9	Template:Yes2Win	8–0–1	Bill Tate	KO	3 (10)	Sep 18, 1959	Template:Small
8	Template:DrawDraw	7–0–1	Germinal Ballarin	PTS	10	Apr 13, 1959	Template:Small
7	Template:Yes2Win	7–0	Jean Ruellet	PTS	10	Mar 16, 1959	Template:Small
6	Template:Yes2Win	6–0	Andre Drille	PTS	10	Feb 9, 1959	Template:Small
5	Template:Yes2Win	5–0	Francois Anewy	KO	3 (10)	Dec 15, 1958	Template:Small
4	Template:Yes2Win	4–0	Hugo Kohler	KO	6 (10)	Oct 17, 1958	Template:Small
3	Template:Yes2Win	3–0	Gerhard Moll	PTS	6	Jun 28, 1957	Template:Small
2	Template:Yes2Win	2–0	Herbert Sowa	PTS	4	Jun 15, 1957	Template:Small
1	Template:Yes2Win	1–0	Alois Brand	PTS	4	May 18, 1957	Template:Small

See also

• List of Hungarians

References

<references />

• His biography at Hungary.hu
• Template:Boxrec
• International Boxing Hall of Fame BioTemplate:Dead link
• Template:Webarchive

External links

• Official homepage