Lord Finesse
11-29-2009, 02:45 PM
László Papp was a top middleweight boxer from Hungary, during the late 1950's and early 1960's. He was a three-time Olympic Gold Medalist, winning the medals in the 1948, 1952 and 1956 Olympic Games. In his last fight at the Olympics, he defeated the future light heavyweight world champion and hall of famer José Torres.
Standing at only 5'5" and fighting in the southpaw stance, he held wins over many solid contenders. They included Mick Leahy, Luis Folledo, Giancarlo Garbelli, Ralph Jones and Peter Mueller.
After defeating Mick Leahy in his final fight (which was for the EBU (European) middleweight title), it looked like he was going to get a world title shot against Joey Giardello. However, the Hungarian government refused to allow him an exit visa to fight for the title abroad. The reason for this was that professional boxing was not permitted in Communist Hungary and the government resented Papp's successful by-passing of the restriction by staging his fights abroad.
He retired with a record of 27-0-2.
Who knows what would've happened with Papp. He showed great promise and looked like he could've been a true middleweight star.
In 1989, WBC President Jose Sulaiman gave Papp an award for 'Best amateur and professional boxer of all time' and granted him honorary champion status of the World Boxing Council.
In 2001, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
I guess he was one of those fighters where you could've wondered "what if..".
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Standing at only 5'5" and fighting in the southpaw stance, he held wins over many solid contenders. They included Mick Leahy, Luis Folledo, Giancarlo Garbelli, Ralph Jones and Peter Mueller.
After defeating Mick Leahy in his final fight (which was for the EBU (European) middleweight title), it looked like he was going to get a world title shot against Joey Giardello. However, the Hungarian government refused to allow him an exit visa to fight for the title abroad. The reason for this was that professional boxing was not permitted in Communist Hungary and the government resented Papp's successful by-passing of the restriction by staging his fights abroad.
He retired with a record of 27-0-2.
Who knows what would've happened with Papp. He showed great promise and looked like he could've been a true middleweight star.
In 1989, WBC President Jose Sulaiman gave Papp an award for 'Best amateur and professional boxer of all time' and granted him honorary champion status of the World Boxing Council.
In 2001, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
I guess he was one of those fighters where you could've wondered "what if..".
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