2. Laszlo Papp – Hungarian junior middleweight and middleweight (1948-1956)

The southpaw from Budapest was the first man to capture three consecutive gold medals and remains the only fighter to do so in multiple weight classes. More amazingly, Papp won his first gold at middleweight (160 pounds) in the 1948 games in London, then dropped to the newly created light middleweight division (156 pounds) and captured two more golds in Helsinki and Melbourne.

Though Papp possessed plenty of pop – he scored 55 first-round knockouts, including two in a row during his 1948 run – he was also skillful enough to pile up points when necessary. His overall Olympic record is 13-0 with six knockouts and it wasn’t until his final bout that he lost on a single scorecard. His opponent: 1997 International Boxing Hall of Famer Jose Torres, whom he joined in Canastota in 2001. Besides Torres, Papp defeated American Ellsworth “Spider” Webb (KO 2, 1952) and Polish veteran Zbigniew Pietrzykowski (3-0, 1956), who is best known for losing to the then-Cassius Clay in the 1960 light heavyweight final. 

Besides Rigondeaux, Papp is the only other fighter on this list that turned pro. He probably didn’t get the hype that surrounded other former Olympians, but if he had he would have lived up to it. Between 1957 and 1964 Papp overcame chronic hand injuries to post a 27-0-2 (15) record, capturing the European middleweight title along the way and beating the likes of Ralph “Tiger” Jones (W 10), Chris Christensen (KO 7, KO 4) and Randy Sandy (W 10). Papp had already signed to fight world middleweight champion Joey Giardello but Hungary’s Communist leadership ended the 38-year-old Papp’s dreams – and his career – by denying him an exit visa.