Boxing at the 1952 Olympics was held at the Messuhalli in Helsinki, which also hosted gymnastics and wrestling events. The Soviet Union entered the 1952 Olympics for the first time, but did not win any of the classes, although they did win two silver and four bronze medals. The tournament was dominated by the American boxers, who won five classes. One went to [Floyd Patterson] in the middleweight class, who would later become world professional heavyweight champion. Patterson would lose that title in a match against Sweden’s [Ingemar Johansson], although Patterson would regain the title in a re-match one year later. Johansson also “medalled” in Helsinki, losing in the final of the heavyweight class to American [Ed Sanders]. Sanders turned professional after a short stint in the Navy, but in his ninth professional bout, he tragically died from injuries sustained during the fight.

Now saying that the Soviets won four bronze medals and that Johansson won a silver medal rather over-simplifies the matter. In fact Johansson was initally not awarded a medal, because he was disqualified in the second round of the final bout for passivity. But Johansson eventually was awarded the medal by the IOC in 1982.

In fact, no bronze medals were awarded in 1952. Previously there had always been a match between the losing semi-finalists for the bronze medal. And starting in 1956, and since that time, the losing semi-finalists would both be awarded bronze medals, as the boxing officials did not think it safe that the losing boxers met again only a day or two after their losing bout. But in 1952, the Official Report stated, “As recommended by the AIBA, gold and silver medals only were awarded. The losers in the semi-finals were not, as previously, matched for bronze medals; instead, both were awarded diplomas. Their national flags were also hoisted at Victory Ceremonies. This decision in regard to medals afterwards gave rise to criticism.”

This decision was made at the 2nd AIBA Congress in 1950 in København. In 1951, the IOC agreed to eliminating the match for bronze medals but specifically stated that no bronze medals should then be awarded. In early 1970 the Finnish Boxing Association proposed awarding bronze medals to the losing semi-finalists from 1952. The idea was supported by [Erik von Frenckell], Finnish IOC Member and Chairman of the 1952 Organizing Committee. The AIBA approved this and on 28 March the Finnish Olympic Committee wrote to [Monique Berlioux], with the IOC, asking for approval, which appears to have been tacitly given. All 20 semi-finalists were invited to a ceremony in Helsinki but only six were able to appear, four of them the losing Finnish semi-finalists, along with [Günther Heidemann] of West Germany and [Boris Nikolov] of Bulgaria.

Final results for the boxing competition at the 1952 Summer Olympics. The events were held at Messuhalli. From this edition of the Olympic Games, the bronze medal match was abolished

[Nate Brooks]’ Olympic dream came close to ending before he earned a place on the US team to Helsinki. During a regional preliminary bout of the US Olympic trials he suffered a deep cut on his eyebrow and only narrowly survived a medical inspection. Although Brooks had a growing reputation inside America, he lacked international experience and was not expected to challenge the Soviet star [Anatoly Bulakov]. When Bulakov was surprisingly outpointed by German fighter [Edgar Basel] the draw opened up for Brooks and, despite a scare against Romania’s [Mircea Dobrescu] in the quarter-final, a string of impressive displays of counterpunching earned him the Olympic title. Like so many fighters before and after Brooks aspired to a career in professional boxing. Although he started strongly as a pro and was North American champion his career faded away with a string of defeats. Bronze medallist [Willie Toweel] was a member of a famous South African boxing family which produced 13 professional fighters.

The men's flyweight event was part of the boxing programme at the 1952 Summer Olympics. The weight class was the lightest contested, and allowed boxers of up to 51 kilograms. The competition was held from 28 July to 2 August 1952. 27 boxers from 27 nations competed

Home boxer [Pentti Hämäläinen] was not unknown at the time of the 1952 Olympics since he was a bronze medallist at the previous year's European Championships, but there were other boxers who were more favoured to make an impression in Helsinki than the Finnish mechanic.

The Finn, inspired by the support of the home crowd, boxed beautifully to reach the final where he faced Ireland's first ever Olympic boxing finalist in the shape of Ulsterman [John McNally]. The Hämäläinen-McNally fight was a clash of styles with the Finn, the shorter man, attempting to crowd the taller, more mobile Irishman. Although the decision in favour of Hämäläinen was hugely popular inside the arena the Irish team were convinced their man had been harshly treated by the judges who split 2-1 against McNally.

Hämäläinen returned to the Olympics in 1956 to win a bronze medal before embarking on a professional career which petered out quickly. The boxer that later went on to gain the most fame, albeit in a tragic way, was American [Davey Moore]. He may only have been a quarter-finalist in Helsinki but he went to a glittering career as a professional and had a four-year reign as world featherweight champion. In 1963 he defended his title on live television against Sugar Ramos of Mexico. In the 8th round he was knocked down and in the process of falling struck his head against the bottom rope and suffered a brain stem injury. He fought on for a few rounds before the referee stopped but later collapsed in his dressing room. Moore slipped into a coma and died a few days later. His story was immortalised in the Bob Dylan song )Who Killed Davey Moore).

The men's bantamweight event was part of the boxing programme at the 1952 Summer Olympics. The weight class was the second-lightest contested, and allowed boxers of up to 54 kilograms. The competition was held from 28 July to 2 August 1952. 23 boxers from 23 nations competed

The featherweight division was the most closely contested at the Helsinki Olympics with over a third of the bouts being decided by a split decision of the judges. The man who survived the action unscathed was 23-year-old university student [Ján Zachara] of Czechoslovakia. Zachara survived three successive fights from quarter-final onwards when one of the judges decided he had lost whilst the other two declared him the victor. He seemed especially lucky to defeat European champion [Joseph Ventaja] in a hotly disputed semi-final bout. Zachara, a locksmith by profession, won the gold by defeating [Sergio Caprari] of Italy. This was the only major tournament title for the Slovakian Zachara who returned to unsuccessfully defend his title in 1956.

The men's featherweight event was part of the boxing programme at the 1952 Summer Olympics. The weight class allowed boxers of up to 57 kilograms to compete. The competition was held from 28 July to 2 August 1952. 30 boxers from 30 nations competed

An already open division was made even more open by the second rounds exits of fighters from the United States and Soviet Union and the decision of 1951 European champion [Bruno Visintin] to campaign in a higher weight category. The two men to contest the Olympic final were [Aleksy Antkiewicz], a Pole who been relatively untroubled in reaching the gold medal match, and Italian lightweight champion [Aureliano Bolognesi] whose route had been harder and had included a win over tournament favourite [Bobby Bickle] of America. The Italian was generally adjudged to have won the first round of the final, but the Pole won the second so the fight was still in the balance as they entered the third round. Inspired by the words of the trainer, Bolognesi made a desperate attempt to force the pace in the final minutes and this proved enough to tip the balance in favour of the Italian on the scorecards of two of the three judges.

The men's lightweight event was part of the boxing programme at the 1952 Summer Olympics. The weight class allowed boxers of up to 60 kilograms to compete. The competition was held from 28 July to 2 August 1952. 27 boxers from 27 nations competed.

The 1952 Olympic Games marked the first shots in a sporting cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union that would last for over three decades. In boxing this rivalry came to a head in the light-welterweight division where the first ever USA-USSR final was fought out between [Chuck Adkins] and [Viktor Mednov] . In truth neither fighter had been troubled in their preliminary rounds as both reached the final via a series of unanimous points decisions and stoppages. Adkins, who arrived in Finland as understudy to Joe Reynolds to whom he had lost in the US trials, impressed the judges much as he had the US officials in pre-Games training, and won the decision over Mednov by a 2-1 split of the voting. Adkins, a former NCAA champion, went on to fight as a professional for five years without hitting the very top of his profession and also became the first black boxing coach at American collegiate level when he coached at San Jose State University.

The men's light welterweight event was part of the boxing programme at the 1952 Summer Olympics. It was the inaugural Olympic event for the weight class and it allowed boxers of up to 63.5 kilograms to compete. The competition was held from 28 July to 2 August 1952. 28 boxers from 28 nations competed

Czechoslovakia’s [Július Torma] returned to defend his Olympic title but by 1952 he had been succeeded as European champion by [Zygmunt Chychła] of Poland who had embarked on a long unbeaten run since 1948. The draw pitted the two fighters together at the quarter-final stage and it was the Pole who emerged triumphant via a unanimous points decision. Chychła’s opponent in the final was [Sergey Shcherbakov] of the Soviet Union. The Soviets were making their first foray into international competition and Scherbakov was considered by team officials to be the poster boy for the USSR and a possible Olympic champion. To the surprise of the Soviets, though probably of few others, the technically gifted Pole was too good for his opponent and was a clear winner of the title. Chychła was European champion again in 1953 but retired soon afterwards after suffering from tuberculosis.

The men's welterweight event was part of the boxing programme at the 1952 Summer Olympics. The weight class allowed boxers of up to 67 kilograms to compete. The competition was held from 29 July to 2 August 1952. 29 boxers from 29 nations competed

With the introduction of the light-middleweight division to international competition, Olympic champion [László Papp] could now fight at a more natural weight. He capitalized on this by winning the light-middleweight title at the 1951 European Championships. In Helsinki Papp was given a difficult assignment for his first bout in the shape of tough American [Spider Webb]. The fight was relatively even in the first round but ended in the second with the American suffering a count out.

The rest of the tournament was relatively plain sailing for the Hungarian who was at this time probably at the peak of his career. In his second Olympic final, Papp was too good for the British Empire Games champion, [Theunis van Schalkwyk] of South Africa who he clearly outpointed.

The men's light middleweight event was part of the boxing programme at the 1952 Summer Olympics. It was the inaugural Olympic event for the weight class and it allowed boxers of up to 71 kilograms to compete. The competition was held from 29 July to 2 August 1952. 23 boxers from 23 nations competed

[Floyd Patterson] left school in spring 1952 and was persuaded by his trainer, Cus D'Amato, to aim for a place on the US Olympic team for Helsinki. The 17-year-old from New Jersey duly booked his berth for Finland by winning a close, and not entirely popular, decision over the more experience Harvey Lammers. The bout with Lemmers proved the most difficult of Patterson's route to Olympic glory as he brushed aside all challengers in the Finnish capital. 2 brutal knockouts, a disqualification and an easy points win later the teenager was Olympic champion. Patterson went on to become the youngest professional World Heavyweight Champion though his aura was somewhat tarnished by defeats to [Ingemar Johansson] and Sonny Liston.

The men's middleweight event was part of the boxing programme at the 1952 Summer Olympics. The weight class allowed boxers of up to 75 kilograms to compete. The competition was held from 29 July to 2 August 1952. 23 boxers from 23 nations competed

[Norvel Lee] was taken to Helsinki as America's reserve in the heavyweight division, the same as he had been in 1948, after losing to [Ed Sanders] in the final of the US Olympic trials. After arriving in Finland he was persuaded by team official to shed the necessary weight and fight as a light-heavyweight. Lee impressed in training and was given the US berth in his new division.

This proved a masterstroke by the US officials as Lee proved to be the outstanding boxer in any of the weight divisions in Helsinki and was a worthy winner of the Val Barker Trophy for the best boxer at the Games. Lee was a graduate of Howard University and did not follow the usual career path for an American Olympic boxing champion and refused to turn professional. Instead he spent a lifetime working in adult education whilst also moonlighting as a judge in professional boxing.

A second round loser was Britain's [Henry Cooper]. After a long career where he was multiple British and European champion, he became the first boxer ever to be awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II.

The men's light heavyweight event was part of the boxing programme at the 1952 Summer Olympics. The weight class allowed boxers of up to 81 kilograms to compete. The competition was held from 29 July to 2 August 1952. 18 boxers from 18 nations competed

America's [Ed Sanders] created carnage in the heavyweight division as he battered his way to the final with three brutal knockout victories. His opponent in the final, Sweden's [Ingemar Johansson], appeared to be completely intimidated by the American's reputation and spent most of the fight backpedalling around the ring. When Sanders did get into range Johansson would simply grab hold of his opponent. Eventually an increasingly irate referee grew tired of warning the Swede and disqualified him for )not trying). This also had the effect of denying Johansson his silver medal and the second step on the podium remained vacant.

Sanders, a member of the US Navy, turned professional in 1954 with high expectations but these were derailed when he lost only his fourth pro fight. In December 1954 he was knocked out by Willie James in a fight at the Boston Garden. Sanders was rushed to hospital with a blood clot on the brain and succumbed to his injury, dying three days later.

Ironically it was Johansson who became a household name as a professional when he became the first European to win the World Heavyweight Championship for over 20 years after knocking out fellow Olympic champion [Floyd Patterson]. In 1982, 30 years after his Olympic embarrassment, Johansson was finally awarded his silver medal after the IOC were persuaded to reverse their decision.

The men's heavyweight event was part of the boxing programme at the 1952 Summer Olympics. The weight class allowed boxers of more than 81 kilograms to compete. The competition was held from 29 July to 2 August 1952. 21 boxers from 21 nations competed