The three-time Olympic Champion Laszlo Papp’s 100 Years Centennial Gala was a great boxing show in Budapest

The Hungarian Boxing Association remembered its national hero, the three-time Olympic Champion Laszlo Papp’s 100^th birthday with a centennial boxing gala in Budapest this week.

One of the biggest icons of the boxing history Laszlo Papp was born in Budapest, Hungary on March 25 in 1926 and he began boxing at the age of 16 during the World War II.

Hungary sent only two boxers to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics due to the Soviet invasion of the country but Laszlo Papp became the first three-time Olympic Champion in boxing. He won the middleweight in London, the light middleweight in Helsinki and defended his throne in that category also in Melbourne.

Budapest’s biggest indoor sport hall was named after him which is known as concert venue, ice hockey matches and other sport events. Papp has sculptures in the city and one of the squares was named after him in Budapest.

The President of the Hungarian Boxing Association, the Olympic Champion Mr. Istvan Kovacs, the founding President of World Boxing, Mr. Boris Van der Vorst and the President of the Serbian Boxing Federation, Mr. Nenad Borovcanin all attended in the centennial gala.

Hungary’s Paris Olympics quarter-finalist Luca Hamori controlled all of the rounds against Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Dajana Rakovic and she won the female fight of the gala unanimously.

Hungary’s Liverpool 2025 World Championships bronze medallist Pylyp Akilov had a quick success over Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Kenan Catic which finished with TKO in the first round.

Another strong Hungarian, Istvan Szaka has just recently won the Bocskai Memorial Tournament and he defeated his opponent, Thailand’s Marudet Chinsukeeporn also by TKO as Akilov.

The European U19 bronze medallist Sandor Varadi stopped Slovakia’s Michal Dien, while Kruzito Kovacs defeated Serbia’s Arnold Tot by unanimous points decision.

Ukraine’s former European Champion Viktor Vykhryst defeated Poland’s veteran Mariusz Wach in the super heavyweight bout of the centennial gala.