8. Harry Mallin – British middleweight (1920-1924)

Mallin was the first man to successfully defend an Olympic boxing title, winning the middleweight gold in the 1920 games in Antwerp, Belgium, then repeating his triumph four years later in Paris. His record in the games was a mere reflection of his entire career, for he captured five consecutive ABA middleweight titles between 1919 and 1923, multiple amateur world championships between 1920 and 1928 and reportedly never lost a match in approximately 300 fights.

Mallin went four-for-four in 1920, beating Americans Joseph Cranston and Sam Lagonia on points and beating Canadians Montgomery Herscovitch and Georges Prud’Homme in the semis and finals. His run continued in Paris with decision victories over Norway’s Trygve Stokstad and Switzerland’s Erich Siebert, but he ran into a significant – and highly controversial – roadblock against French favorite Roger Brousse in the quarterfinals.

According to reports, the original decision favored Brousse 2-1 but Mallick complained to the Belgian referee that he had been bitten. The tooth marks in Mallin’s chest and shoulder bore out his story but his protest was ignored at the time. A subsequent appeal put forth medical evidence of Mallick’s injuries as well as the testimony of Manuel Gallardo of Argentina, who said Brousse bit him during his decision defeat one fight earlier. At that Brousse was disqualified (though the jury deemed his foul unintentional) and Mallin was allowed to move forward in the tournament, where he beat Belgium Joseph Beecken on points in the semifinal.

Brousse nearly ignited a riot in the final two days later when he came in the ring before Mallin’s Olympic final against Mallin’s countryman John Elliott. Mallin won his historic back-to-back golds by decision, but he did so only because the police held the furious French crowd.