One of probably the most controversial moments in Olympic historical past has taken a shock twist with former South Korean boxer Park Si-hun handing his gold medal over to Roy Jones Jr.
Park defeated Jones Jr. by a 3-2 decision on the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, despite the fact that the American dominated the light-middleweight title combat and was broadly believed to be the rightful champion.
Among these to doubt the decision had been Park himself, who has lengthy held that he didn’t should win the gold medal. And now, more than three decades after the combat, he has given the prize to his opponent.
In a touching video posted on Jones Jr.’s YouTube channel this week, the pair are seen assembly on the 56-year-old’s ranch in Pensacola, Florida to trade the medal.
“He won the gold at the time, he had the gold, but he wants to give it back to you,” Park’s son explains within the video. “It belongs to you.”
The two former fighters stand hand-in-hand in a boxing ring as a clearly emotional Jones Jr. is instructed that he’s receiving the medal, then provides: “Wow. That is crazy.”
“In 1988, I was robbed of the gold medal in what became one of the biggest controversies in boxing history,” Jones Jr. wrote on Instagram on Thursday.
“By the grace of God, a couple of years ago, the man who won that medal made the trip from South Korea to my home to return it to me, feeling it was rightfully mine. I hope you enjoy this moment as much as I did.”
According to the Associated Press, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) concluded in 1997 that it had discovered no proof to help the bribery allegations made towards the judges in the course of the 1988 gold-medal bout.
Jones Jr. was however awarded the Val Barker Trophy for the very best boxer throughout all weight divisions on the Olympics. He went on to change into one of many biggest pound-for-pound boxers of all time, profitable a world title in 4 divisions.
As for Park, who grew to become a trainer after which a boxing coach, he has at all times maintained that he didn’t should win the combat towards Jones Jr.
“There’s hardened resentment built up in me that I will probably carry for the rest of my life,” he told AP in 2020. “I didn’t want my hand to be raised (after the fight), but it did go up, and my life became gloomy because of that.”