Val Barker Trophy

The Val Barker Trophy is presented every four years to the most "outstanding boxer" at the Olympic Games.[1] In theory, the award goes to the top "pound for pound" boxer in the Olympics.[1] The winner is selected by a committee of International Boxing Association (amateur) (AIBA) officials.[1] The trophy is named after British boxer Val Barker who won the Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABA) heavyweight title in 1891,[2] before becoming the secretary of the AIBA between 1926 and 1929.[1]

Val Barker Trophy
Awarded fordemonstration of excellence in Olympic boxing
Presented byAIBA
First awarded1936
Currently held byClaressa Shields
Hasanboy Dusmatov

The inaugural recipient of the Val Barker Trophy was American flyweight Louis Laurie who won bronze at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. He is one of just three boxers who did not win gold at the same Olympics in which they were presented with the trophy, the others being Kenyan featherweight Philip Waruinge (bronze at the 1968 Games) and American light middleweight Roy Jones Jr. (silver at the 1988 Games). American boxers are the most successful with six awards, while Kazakhstani boxers have won the trophy on three occasions. In the 2016 Games, two Val Barker Trophies were presented for the first time, one for men and one for women;[1] women's boxing made its Olympic debut the previous Games in 2012.[3] The inaugural female winner was middleweight Claressa Shields who became the first American boxer to win two consecutive Olympic gold medals when she defeated Dutch boxer Nouchka Fontijn in Rio de Janeiro.[4]

Recipients
Roy Jones Jr. was controversially denied a gold in 1988, but was recognized as the most stylistic boxer of the games
Claressa Shields became the first recipient of the female variant of the trophy, after winning the gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro games in 2016
Games Location Boxer Nationality Weight class Medal Ref(s)
1936 Berlin Louis Laurie  United States Flyweight Bronze [5]
1948 London George Hunter  South Africa Light heavyweight Gold [6]
1952 Helsinki Norvel Lee  United States Light heavyweight Gold [7]
1956 Melbourne Dick McTaggart  Great Britain Lightweight Gold [8]
1960 Rome Nino Benvenuti  Italy Welterweight Gold [9]
1964 Tokyo Valeri Popenchenko  Soviet Union Middleweight Gold [10]
1968 Mexico City Philip Waruinge  Kenya Featherweight Bronze [11]
1972 Munich Teófilo Stevenson  Cuba Heavyweight Gold [12]
1976 Montreal Howard Davis Jr.  United States Lightweight Gold [13]
1980 Moscow Patrizio Oliva  Italy Light welterweight Gold [14]
1984 Los Angeles Paul Gonzales  United States Light flyweight Gold [15]
1988 Seoul Roy Jones Jr.  United States Light middleweight Silver [13]
1992 Barcelona Roberto Balado  Cuba Super heavyweight Gold [16]
1996 Atlanta Vassiliy Jirov  Kazakhstan Light heavyweight Gold [17]
2000 Sydney Oleg Saitov  Russia Welterweight Gold [18]
2004 Athens Bakhtiyar Artayev  Kazakhstan Welterweight Gold [19]
2008 Beijing Vasyl Lomachenko  Ukraine Featherweight Gold [20]
2012 London Serik Sapiyev  Kazakhstan Welterweight Gold [21]
2016 Rio de Janeiro Hasanboy Dusmatov  Uzbekistan Men's light flyweight Gold [1]
Claressa Shields  United States Women's middleweight Gold

References
  1. Rafael, Dan (23 August 2016). "Olympic champs Dusmatov, Shields receive Val Barker awards". ESPN. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  2. "1891 –11th ABAE National Championship". England Boxing. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  3. Vale, Jon (14 October 2011). "Nicola Adams aims to be big hit when women's boxing makes Olympic bow". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  4. Graham, Bryan Armen (21 August 2016). "Claressa Shields wins second straight Olympic boxing gold for USA". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  5. "Boston sweeps card series". The Cincinnati Enquirer. 28 August 1936. p. 14. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  6. "Boxing at the 1948 London Summer Games: Men's Light-Heavyweight". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  7. "Norvel Lee Bio, Stats, and Results". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  8. Hill, Adam (26 November 2016). "Dick McTaggart put Dundee on the map". Dundee Evening Telegraph. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  9. Fischer, Doug. "10: Top boxers with combined Olympic and Pro success". The Ring. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  10. "Valery Popenchenko". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  11. Kibet, Robert (20 July 2013). "Former professional boxer Waruinge struggling to survive, back under mother's shelter". The Standard. Nairobi. Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  12. Williamson, Marcus (12 June 2012). "Teofilo Stevenson: Boxer regarded as the greatest never to fight for money". The Independent. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  13. Seekins, Briggs (28 February 2014). "The Best Fighters in Boxing History Who Were Also Olympic Medalists". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  14. "Mr. Serik Konakbayev arrived to the AIBA EC Meeting to the place of his previous successes to Moscow". Asian Boxing Confederation. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  15. Smith, Charles (22 August 1993). "Gonzales: Will He Be Sitting Pretty Again? : After Personal and Professional Setbacks, '84 Olympic Champ Is Ready to Return to the Ring". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  16. Raffo, Dave (9 August 1992). "Cubans finish with 7 boxing golds". UPI. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  17. Lillis, Steve (19 June 2015). "Cuba Domadores v Astana Arlans Kazakhstan will be one of the best boxing matches our fans have ever seen". BoxNation. Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  18. Fischer, Doug. "10: Top Olympic fighters of all time". The Ring. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  19. "Artayev wins Athens award". BBC Sport. 29 August 2004. Archived from the original on 30 August 2004. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  20. "Lomachenko wins Val Barker trophy". Reuters. 24 August 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  21. "London 2012 gold medalist Serik Sapiyev returns to Rio 2016 Olympic Boxing arena in a new role for Kazakhstan". AIBA. 13 August 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2017.

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