September 4, 2025
Jones was cheated out of the gold medal when the judges awarded Si-Hun a 3-2 split decision victory when Jones clearly won the bout
In one of the most controversial Olympic moments in history, American amateur boxer Roy Jones, Jr., after dominating his gold medal fight against his opponent, Park Si-Hun, in South Korea (Si-Hun’s country) lost a 3-2 split decision, and after 36 years, the called winner of the match handed Jones the gold medal that the sports world felt should have been given to the now-retired Jones in 1988.
Jones posted a video clip of the moment that the gold medal was finally rightfully placed in his hands, as Si-Hum’s son, who was with him at the time of the exchange, translated to an emotional Jones that he wanted him to have the prize he decisively won at the time. This took place in Pensacola, Florida, according to the social media post, a couple of years ago, but was recently posted.
“I had the gold medal, but I wanted to give it back to you,” Si-Hun says to Jones via his son. “It belongs to you. This gold medal is your problem now.”
As Jones accepted the precious medal, he got emotional.
Yahoo! Sports reported that, although Jones was the clear winner to anyone viewing the match at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, the judges shockingly declared Si-Hun the winner in a 3-2 split decision. The stats proved that it was a clearly one-sided fight as Jones landed almost three times the punches that Park connected on, by a margin of 86-32, through the three rounds the two boxers fought. 20-3 in Round 1, 30-15 in Round 2, and 36-14 in Round 3.
Following the fight, the three judges who declared Si-Hum the winner, Bob Kasule of Uganda, Uruguay’s Alberto Durán, and Hiouad Larbi of Morocco, were eventually suspended for six months, with two of them later banned for life. Larbi later admitted that Jones won the fight, but gave the victory to Hi-Sun to spare the home country embarrassment, as he expected the four other judges to award Jones the win.
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