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

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. 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 officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

in London, the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, and the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...

held in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

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

won three, followed by another Cuban

Félix Savón Félix Savón Fabre (born 22 September 1967) is a Cuban former amateur boxer who competed from 1980 to 2000. Considered one of the all-time greatest amateurs, he became three-time Olympic gold medalist, and the World Champion six times in a ...

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 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 Jean Welter (2 May 1901 in Esch-sur-Alzette – 23 March 1977) was a Luxembourgish boxer who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics and in the 1928 Summer Olympics. In 1924 he was eliminated in the second round of the light heavyweight class aft ...

(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 officially branded as ...

(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 (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( ...

(Bulgaria) 3-0 *Defeated

Eladio Oscar Herrera Eladio Óscar 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 ...

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

Alberto Saenz Alberto is the Romance version of the Latinized form (''Albertus'') of Germanic ''Albert''. It is used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The diminutive forms are ''Albertito'' in Spain or ''Albertico'' in some parts of Latin America, Alberti ...

(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 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 beg ...

ranks. However, Hungary was a

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

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

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, 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, 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 officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an internation ...

. 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, ...

Death

László Papp died in

in 2003.

Honours

Papp was inducted into the

International Boxing Hall Of Fame The International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, right next to exit 34 of the New York State Thruway, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected on ballots cre ...

in 2001. In 1989 WBC President

José Sulaimán José Sulaimán Chagnón (May 30, 1931 – January 16, 2014) was a Mexican boxing official, best known for serving as president of the World Boxing Council (WBC) from 1975 until his death in 2014. During his nearly four decades at the helm, Sul ...

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 ...

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 for 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 20th-century Hungarian sportsmen