Anton Josipović

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Men's boxing
Olympic medal record
Gold	1984 Los Angeles	Light heavyweight

Anton Ante Josipović (born October 22, 1962 in Banja Luka) was an Bosnian boxer from Croatian heritage, who won the light heavyweight gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Josipović, a member of "Slavija" from Banja Luka, won his first Yugoslav champion title in 1982, and went on to become a Balkan champion in 1983. In LA for the first time a Yugoslav athlete was awarded a gold medal by default. Josipović was left without an opponent after Gligorije Novičić, a Yugoslav referee, in the other semifinal bout between New Zealand's Kevin Barry and Evander Holyfield from the US had disqualified the American boxer for having knocked out his opponent after the referee stopped the match.

In spite of several protests and appeals by the hosts, Holyfield, who later became a two-time professional world heavyweight champion, was not allowed to compete in the final bout, while Barry could not compete because of the knock-out, which resulted in Josipović’s being awarded gold medal by default.

Josipović began his professional career in 1990 and won his first eight bouts. In 1994, he took on Asmir Vojnović for the Croatian Cruiserweight Title and lost a decision. In the rematch in 1995, Josipović against lost by decision and retired from boxing.