To many, the biggest shock in Olympic boxing history occurred at Seoul 1988 when American Roy Jones Jr was denied gold following a highly controversial decision by the judges.The 19-year-old had blazed his way to the final in a flurry of left hooks. He breezed past M’tendere Makalamba, Michal Franek, Yevgeni Zaytsev and Richie Woodhall before facing South Korea’s Park Si-hun in the final.

While Jones had it easy till the final, Park struggled. The final was a rout. Jones, who barely bothered to raise his guard, landed 86 punches to Park’s 32. The Korean took two standing eight counts and was twice warned by the referee.

Three of the five judges didn’t think so. Bob Kasule of Uganda, Uruguay’s Alberto Duran and Hiouad Larbi of Morocco ruled in favour of Park. As referee Aldo Leoni raised Park’s hand, even he was embarrassed. Jones stood there in pure shock as Park whispered to him, “I can’t believe they’re doing this to you.” Jones said, “That’s the worst I’ve ever been dealt in my life. They put the silver medal around my neck, and I took it right off. I won’t put it around my neck ever again.”

The judges who awarded Park the win were later suspended and an IOC investigation in 1997 discovered that they had been wined and dined by South Korean Olympic officials, but Park kept his medal.

The Jones scandal came shortly after fellow American Michael Carbajal had lost out on gold in the flyweight final to a similarly bizarre decision. After an investigation into the two controversies the scoring system was changed.