35 years later, boxer Roy Jones Jr. receives the Olympic gold medal from his former opponent

An extraordinary display of fair play. In a video posted this Wednesday, September 3, on American boxer Roy Jones Jr.'s YouTube channel, but filmed in 2023, the latter is presented with the Olympic gold medal by his opponent, Park Si-hun, 35 years after their controversial final at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. It was widely believed that Roy Jones Jr. had easily dominated his opponent in this fight, but the South Korean, who was competing on home soil, was declared the winner. This fight was one of the most controversial in boxing history.

"I had the gold medal, but I want to give it back to you. It belongs to you," Park Si-hun concedes in the video through his son, who translates his words, before returning the precious trinket to the American boxer. The athlete, overcome with emotion, covers his face with his hand and finally exclaims: "Wow, this is crazy." Roy Jones Jr. was unaware of this historic exchange: when he went to his gym in Pensacola, Florida, on May 30, 2023, the boxer thought he was being filmed for a routine interview. "This gold medal is now your problem," Park Si-hun tells him, laughing.

“In 1988, I was stripped of the gold medal in what became one of the biggest controversies in boxing history,” Roy Jones Jr. wrote in an Instagram post at the time of the video’s release. “By the grace of God, a few years ago, the man who won that medal traveled from South Korea to my home to return it, believing it was rightfully mine. I hope you enjoy this moment as much as I did,” he added, before teasing the eventual release of a documentary about his life and “the resilience of the human spirit.”

In a 2020 interview with The Associated Press , Park Si-hun said he fell into depression after the widespread criticism of the fight's unfair outcome – to the point of sometimes feeling suicidal. "I keep thinking about how much happier my life would have been if I had finished second," he said.

A year later, the South Korean boxer told the Times that he wanted to present the medal to Roy Jones Jr., but was waiting for approval from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). His American competitor said it would be "foolish" not to accept the gesture, and that the IOC should change the medal list, as Park Si-hun himself had suggested.

The IOC had opened an investigation into allegations of referee bribery but concluded in 1997 that it had found no evidence. The U.S. Olympic Committee had called for the investigation a year earlier after documents belonging to the Stasi, East Germany's secret police, revealed that judges had received payments to vote in favor of South Korean boxers.

In 2020

Despite losing to Park Si-hun, Roy Jones Jr. was named the winner of the Val Barker Trophy, awarded to the best boxer at the 1988 Olympic Games. He went on to become a professional world champion in four different weight classes and is considered one of the greatest boxers of all time.