It’s 9 days until Team Ireland Boxing enters the field of play at Paris 2024, marking the centenary of Irish Olympic boxing.
We’re celebrating each and every Irish boxing team, and today revisit Seoul 1988. Ireland’s seven-strong boxing squad headed east, searching for an 8th Olympic medal.
Hughie Russell had been the last Irish fighter to finish in a podium position eight years previously in Moscow.
Unfortunately, politics once again denied boxing fans the opportunity to see the great Cuban class of 1988, as the Caribbean Island, who had boycotted the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, also stayed away from the Seoul Olympiad.
However, the USSR, who had also boycotted the 1984 Games, were back in the Olympic fold, and one of their boxers, Timofei Skriabin, denied Ireland’s Joe Lawlor.
Lawlor made a winning start, stopping Archer Fausto of Mozambique in frame two of his opening bout, but the Darndale BC flyweight bowed out on a unanimous decision to the Soviet, who would progress to secure bronze.
Joe Lowey was the only Irish boxer to register a double in Seoul, positive decisions over Iraq’s Mustafa Saleh and Nigeria’s Shana Mohammed seeing the Ledley Hall BC bantamweight through to the last-16.
But Lowey went out on a split decision to Nurshan Altankhuyey of Mongolia, who would drop a unanimous decision to Phajol Moolsan of Thailand in the quarter-finals.
Wexford’s Billy Walsh, the former Irish head coach, had beaten Korea’s Kyung-sup Song in a pre Olympic tournament in Seoul a few months prior to the Games, Walsh dropping and stopping the Asian.
Both men were drawn against each other again at the Olympics, but this time Song got the decision after Walsh was forced to retire with a cut over his left eye in the second round. The Irish corner pleaded with the ringside doctor to allow the welterweight bout to continue, but the pleas fell on deaf ears.
Song reached the quarter-finals, but was shaded on a split decision by eventual silver-medallist, Laurent Boudouani of France.
Kieran Joyce, appearing in his second Olympiad, once again got off to a victorious start, this time out beating Fili Vaka in the opening frame. However, the Leesider then lost 3-2 to Uganda’s Fred Wanyama in the last-16, while Paul Fitzgerald beat Emilio Villega of the Dominican Republic but was then beaten by Great Britain’s Dave Anderson.
Wayne McCullough and Michael Carruth also won their opening contests in Seoul.Positive verdicts over Uganda’s Frederick Mutewata and Japan’s Shinju Higashi saw both men have their hands raised in triumph.
But the Irish duo were eliminated in the next phase following reversals to Canada’s Scott Olson and Sweden’s George Cramne, who would take home silver from Seoul.
However, the experience of competing at the Seoul games proved invaluable for McCullough and Carruth as they would return for their second Olympics four years later.
The 1988 Games was the scene of probably the most outrageous decision in the entire history of Olympic boxing.
Roy Jones of the USA beat of Park Si-Hun of South Korea from here to Calcutta and back by way of the Treaty Stone in Limerick in the light-middleweight final – Jones actually found the target with 86 punches to Si-Hun’s 32.
But despite all the protests, consternation and clear cut evidence of daylight robbery, Si-Hun still stood on top of the podium, a silver medal winner with a gold medal around his neck.
The three judges that voted against Jones were later suspended and the American was presented with the Val Barker trophy as the best stylistic boxer of the 1988 games, one of only three occasions when they award did not go to a gold medal winner. The uproar over Jones’ final with Si-Hun would see the old scoring system scrapped and a new computerised scoring system, “to make judges’ officiating more objective”, introduced in the lead up to the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona
The new scoring system was first used at the 5th AIBA World Championships in Moscow in 1989. Michael Carruth had to settle for bronze after being beaten in the semi-finals by East Germany’s Andreas Otto in the Russian capital. Carruth and Otto would renew acquaintances at the Barcelona Olympiad three years later!
The Irish squad in Seoul won seven bouts and lost seven.
Team Ireland: Seoul, 1988
Light-flyweight: Wayne McCullough (Albert Foundry)
Beat Frederick Mutewata (Uganda) 5-0
Lost to Scottie Olson (Canada) 0-5
Flyweight: Joe Lawlor (Darndale)
Beat Archer Fausto (Mozambique) KO2
Lost to bronze medalist Timofei Skriabin (USSR) 0-5
Bantamweight: John Lowey (Ledley Hall)
Beat Mustafa Saleh (Iraq) 5-0
Beat Shana Mohammed (Nigeria) 4-1
Lost to Nurshan Altankhuyey (Mongolia) 2-3
Featherweight: Paul Fitzgerald (Transport)
Beat Emilio Villegas (Dominican Republic) 4-1
Lost to Dave Anderson (Great Britain) 0-5
Lightweight: Michael Carruth (Drimnagh)
Beat Shinju Higashi (Japan) 5-0
Lost to eventual silver medalist George Cramne (Sweden) TKO1
Welterweight: Billy Walsh (St Joseph’s)
Lost to Kyung-sup Song (Korea) TKOI2
Middleweight: Kieran Joyce (Sunnyside)
Beat Fili Vaka (Tonga) TKO1
Lost to Fred Wanyama (Uganda).
Check out highlights of these Games.
The 1988 Summer Olympics featured 23 different sports encompassing 31 disciplines, and medals were awarded in 237 events.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) boycotted, and was joined by Cuba, Ethiopia and Nicaragua. Still, records were set with 159 nations participating, 52 winning medals and 31 taking home gold medals.
Sprint Scandal
Canadian Ben Johnson set a world record in the 100m sprint, but tested positive for steroids. Johnson was the first world-famous athlete to be disqualified for using drugs. After his disqualification, Carl Lewis was awarded the 100m gold, meaning he had successfully defended his 1984 Olympic title.
Debuts and Firsts
For the first time, all three medallists in equestrian dressage were women. Swedish fencer Kerstin Palm became the first woman to take part in seven Olympic Games, and table tennis made its Olympic debut. Tennis also returned to the programme after a hiatus of 64 years. The event was open to professionals, and Steffi Graf concluded her Grand Slam tennis season by winning Olympic gold.