László Papp

László Papp (25 March 1926 – 16 October 2003) was a Hungarian professional boxer from Budapest. A southpaw, he 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 made a remarkable achievement in Olympic boxing sport by winning 12 of his 13 Olympic fights, which he won the 12 fights without losing a round, and dropped only a single round in his last Olympic, to American boxer José Torres. There would not be another triple gold medalist for 20 years, when Teófilo Stevenson won three, followed by Félix Savón as the latest one of the three men to accomplish the feat.

For other people named László Papp, see László Papp (disambiguation).
The native form of this personal name is Papp László. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.
László Papp
Papp, 13 December 1955
Statistics
Real nameLászló Papp
Nickname(s)Laci Papp
Weight(s)Middleweight
Light Middleweight
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
NationalityHungarian
Born(1926-03-25)25 March 1926
Budapest, Hungary
Died16 October 2003(2003-10-16) (aged 77)
Budapest, Hungary
StanceSouthpaw
Boxing record
Total fights29
Wins27
Wins by KO15
Losses0
Draws2
No contests0
Medal record
Men's boxing
Representing  Hungary
Olympic Games
1948 LondonMiddleweight
1952 HelsinkiLight Middleweight
1956 MelbourneLight Middleweight
European Amateur Championships
1949 Oslo Middleweight
1951 Milan Light Middleweight

Amateur career

Papp was an Olympic gold medalist three times, 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 1951. He scored 55 first-round knockouts as an amateur, his record was 301-12-6.

Olympic results

1948 London (England)

1952 Helsinki (Finland)

1956 Melbourne (Australia)

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, Hungary's Communist leadership brought his professional career to an end by denying him an exit visa. The reason for this was that professional boxing was not permitted in Communist Hungary and the government resented Papp's successful by-passing of the restriction by staging his fights abroad.

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.

Honors

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.

Budapest's Papp László Sportaréna, a multipurpose building best known as a concert venue and the home ice of the Hungarian national hockey team, is named in his honor.

See also

References
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