László Papp (25 March 1926 – 16 October 2003) was a Hungarian professional boxer from

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. He was left-handed and won gold medals in the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

in London, the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, and the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...

held in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, 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

Teófilo Stevenson Teófilo Stevenson Lawrence (29 March 1952 – 11 June 2012) was a Cuban amateur boxer who competed from 1966 to 1986. He won the Val Barker Trophy (1972) and was honored with the Olympic Order (1987). Stevenson is one of only three boxers to w ...

won three, followed by Félix Savón as the third of the three men to accomplish the feat.

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) *Defeated

Valfrid Resko Valfrid is a Finnish given name. Notable people with the name include: * Valfrid Nykänen (1894–1918), Finnish World War I fighter pilot *Valfrid Palmgren Alfhild ''Valfrid'' Matilda Palmgren, as married Palmgren Munch-Petersen (3 June 1877 � ...

(Finland) KO 2 *Defeated Jean Welter (Luxembourg) KO 1 *Defeated

Auguste Cavignac Auguste Cavignac (20 May 1928 – 21 February 1951) was a Belgian boxer. He competed in the men's middleweight event at the 1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1 ...

(Belgium) KO 1 *Defeated

Ivano Fontana Ivano Fontana (25 November 1926 – 24 December 1993) was an Italian boxer. He won a bronze medal in the middleweight division at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, losing to gold medal winner Laszlo Papp. He was born in Lucca, Italy ...

(Italy) 3-0 *Defeated John Wright (England) 3-0 1952 Helsinki (Finland) *Defeated

Ellsworth Webb Ellsworth Webb (November 20, 1931 – November 23, 2017) was an American boxer. He competed in the men's light middleweight event at the 1952 Summer Olympics. Professional boxing career Ellsworth, nicknamed "Spider", was a top ranked middl ...

(United States) KO 2 *Defeated Charlie Chase (Canada) KO 2 *Defeated

Petar Stankoff Spassoff Petar Spasov (born 13 March 1934) is a Bulgarian boxer. He competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics and the 1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( ...

(Bulgaria) 3-0 *Defeated

Eladio Oscar Herrera Eladio Herrera (February 9, 1930 - November 25, 2014) was an Argentine boxer. He competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics and the 1952 Summer Olympics. Amateur career Herrera won a bronze medal in the 1952 Summer Olympics, in Helsinki Hel ...

(Argentina) 3-0 *Defeated Theunis Jacobus van Schalkwyk (South Africa) 3-0 1956 Melbourne (Australia) *Defeated Alberto Saenz (Argentina) KO 3 *Defeated

Zbigniew Pietrzykowski Zbigniew Jan Pietrzykowski (4 October 1934 – 19 May 2014) was a Polish boxer. He took part in three Olympic Games, each time winning a medal. He won a bronze medal at Melbourne 1956 in the light middleweight division, after losing in the ...

(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 Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

ranks. However, Hungary was a

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

country at the time and professional boxing was not permitted. Papp had to travel to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, in Austria, for training and for his fights. In spite of this disadvantage, he beat several top-ranking contenders for the European

title, including veteran

Tiger Jones Ralph "Tiger" Jones (March 14, 1928 – August 20, 1994) was a boxer during the 1950s. Trained by Gil Clancy, Jones was a fixture of televised boxing in the 1950s, known for an aggressive style that pleased fans. His overall record was 52 victor ...

, French champion Hippolyte Annex and

Chris Christensen Chris Christensen (born 2 March 1988) is a Danish swimmer. He competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisp ...

. 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 A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

Death

László Papp died in

in 2003.

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 The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation ...

. 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 honour.

Professional boxing record

References

His biography at Hungary.hu
*
International Boxing Hall of Fame Bio
*

External links

Official homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Papp, Laszlo 1926 births 2003 deaths Olympic boxers of Hungary Middleweight boxers European Boxing Union champions International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Boxers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Boxers from Budapest Olympic gold medalists for Hungary Olympic medalists in boxing Hungarian male boxers Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Burials at Farkasréti Cemetery