The Olympics have always been a place where future boxing stars first came to the public’s attention, etching their names in history before turning professional.
Some of the biggest names in boxing commanded the public’s attention via the amateur tournament at the Olympic Games.
Legends like Floyd Mayweather and Roy Jones Jr failed to win the gold medal but went on to have sensational careers, showing how tough the sport really is at that level.
However, some of the best boxers of all time went all the way to the gold medal fight, becoming legends in their country.
Here are the five gold medal-winning boxers who had the best careers following their victory, starting with a British Heavyweight who starred in his home country at London 2012.
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5. Anthony Joshua
One of the top Heavyweights of the modern era made his name at the Olympic Games.
Along with Anthony Ogogo and Nicola Adams, Anthony Joshua was Britain’s poster boy for boxing in 2012, and did his country proud by dominating the field en route to a gold medal.
After controversially beating Roberto Cammarelle in the Super Heavyweight gold medal fight, Joshua turned pro and embarked on a Mike Tyson-like run, landing impressive knockout after knockout as he became the one to watch in the Heavyweight division.
His career peaked with his world title win over Wladimir Klitschko to become the unified Heavyweight champion, as he amassed an impressive 22-0 record with only one fight going the distance.
While his record has been soiled slightly in recent years by the likes of Andy Ruiz and Oleksandr Usyk, Joshua’s rise from Olympic hero to world champion was as meteoric as it was impressive.
4. Oleksandr Usyk
As well as beating Joshua twice in world title fights, Usyk also walked out of the 2012 Olympic Games with a gold medal of his own.
The Ukrainian represented his home country in the Heavyweight division, where Usyk beat future undisputed champion Artur Beterbiev, as well as Tervel Pulev and Clemente Russo, to take home the gold medal.
He turned professional one year later, embarking on a career at Cruiserweight, which turned out very fruitful for “The Cat.
He became WBO Cruiserweight champion less than three years into his career, becoming the undefeated and undisputed champion of the weight class before jumping up to Heavyweight in 2019.
Usyk’s last Cruiserweight bout was a vicious knockout of Tony Bellew, but he soon took the top weight class like a duck to water.
He found the transition easy, quickly handing Joshua back-to-back losses to become world champion, adding wins over the likes of Tyson Fury and Daniel Dubois to cement himself as the top fighter in the world.
3. Lennox Lewis
Often regarded as one of, if not the, best Heavyweights of all time, Lennox Lewis oddly represented a country that was completely different from the one he became associated with.
Despite being born in London and earning the nickname “The Lion”, Lewis represented Canada at the Olympic Games in both 1984 and 1988.
While unsuccessful in his first try, the British-Canadian triumphed in 1988, beating Riddick Bowe with a second-round stoppage, taking home the Super Heavyweight gold before embarking on a career in professional boxing.
A year after his big win, Lewis made his professional debut, and he was off to the races. The six-foot-five Heavyweight was no match for his opponents, winning 25 straight fights before a shock loss to Oliver McCall, which he later avenged.
He became the Heavyweight champion at that time, unifying all the belts to become undisputed champion despite Lewis facing the likes of Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson, and Vitali Klitschko in some breathtaking fights.
Lewis retired as champion after the Klitschko fight, ending his career at the age of 37 and still on the top of his game, cementing himself as one of the best to ever do it.
2. Oscar De La Hoya
Oscar De La Hoya earned the nickname “Golden Boy” thanks to his gold medal win in the 1992 Olympics, and went on to forge a career as one of the greatest of all time.
The Mexican-American represented the United States as he went to Barcelona to beat Marco Rudolph in the final fight to become Olympic champion.
De La Hoya did not spoil the goodwill he had built up with the American public and he quickly made his professional debut with a first-round knockout in under two minutes.
From then on, he began a legendary career that made De La Hoya one of the biggest PPV draws in the history of boxing, until he was usurped by Floyd Mayweather some years later.
Golden Boy’s bouts with Felix Trinidad, Manny Pacquiao, and Mayweather drew massive buy rates and huge crowds as the Olympian won world titles at six weight classes and became a legend in the ring.
1. Muhammad Ali
It is rare to find any “all-time” boxing list that does not have Muhammad Ali front and center as the Greatest.
Then known as Cassius Clay, Ali beat four opponents in one week to win the Light Heavyweight gold medal at the 1960 games, before returning home to a segregated United States.
Ali became a figure in the civil rights movement and lost years of his career by protesting the Vietnam War, which also ended his run as world Heavyweight champion.
After some time out of the ring, Ali returned to once again become champion in 1971 by beating Joe Frazier in the “Fight of the Century” that began an even more successful second half of his career.
During his time in the ring, Ali became one of the most famous men on the planet, fighting in some of the most-watched fights of all time, and is known as the greatest boxer of all time, even to this day.
Had he not won that Olympic gold medal in 1960, who knows what Cassius Clay would have ended up with?