Horace "Lefty" Gwynne (October 5, 1912 – April 16, 2001) was a bantamweight professional boxer from Canada, who competed in the 1930s and won the gold medal at the 1932 Summer Olympics. He was still an amateur when he won the gold medal.
Horace Gwynne | |||||||||||||||
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| Born | October 5, 1912 | ||||||||||||||
| Died | April 16, 2001 (aged 88) | ||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Canadian | ||||||||||||||
| Other names | "Lefty" | ||||||||||||||
| Statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Weight class | Bantamweight | ||||||||||||||
| Weight(s) | 53 kg (117 lb) | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.56 m (5 ft 1 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Stance | Southpaw | ||||||||||||||
| Boxing record | |||||||||||||||
| Total fights | 50 | ||||||||||||||
| Wins | 40 | ||||||||||||||
| Wins by KO | 6 | ||||||||||||||
| Losses | 8 | ||||||||||||||
| Draws | 2 | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Born in Toronto, Gwynne left school after grade 8, weighing only 65 lb (29.5 kg). When he started to grow, he began working out in Stokley's Gym in Toronto to lose weight in order to become a jockey.
Amateur career
editAt age nineteen he won the Canadian amateur flyweight championship in London, Ontario. He entered the 1932 Olympic trials as a bantamweight, a class permitting up to 118 lb (53.5 kg); he weighed 116.
Gwynne won the Canadian amateur bantamweight title, which sent him to the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, despite his having fought only fifteen bouts before the Games. He won the Olympic gold medal match against the German Hans Ziglarski, knocking him down in the second round and winning on points. It took 56 years for another Canadian, Lennox Lewis in 1988, to win an Olympic boxing gold medal.[1]
1932 Olympic results
editBelow is a list of Horace Gwynne's bouts from the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics:
- Quarterfinal: Defeated Vito Melis (Italy) PTS
- Semifinal Defeated José Villanueva (Philippines) PTS
- Final: Defeated Hans Ziglarski (Germany) PTS (won gold medal)
Pro career
editImmediately after the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, Gwynne turned professional. He won the Canadian professional bantamweight title in 1939 and retired after two more bouts without defending the title. Gwynne's professional record was 40 wins (6 KO), eight losses (1 KO), and two draws. .[2]
Honors
editGwynne has been inducted into the Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. He died in Toronto.
References
edit- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Lefty Gwynne". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2016-12-03.
- ^ "Lefty Gwynne - Boxer". BoxRec.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-18. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
- Canadian Olympic Committee at the Wayback Machine (archived 2007-09-29)
External links
edit- Boxing record for Horace Gwynne from BoxRec (registration required)
- Horace Gwynne at Olympedia
- Horace Gwynne at Olympics.com
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