Roy Jones Jr represented the United States in the 1988 Games in the 71kg (156lb) weight division. Throughout the boxing tournament in Seoul, Jones was simply dominant. He did not lose a single round to his opponents on his way to the Gold medal match.

In the final match Jones pummeled opponent Park Si-Hun relentlessly. Jones landed 86 punches in the three rounds to Park’s 32. Park was also given 2 standing 8 counts during the match. American commentators called the match a walkover for Jones. South Korean radio stated that Park would need a knockout in the last round to win the match. Jones lost the match 3-2 via the judges, but everyone knew that Jones was the better boxer and won the match. The referee told Jones that he was shocked by the decision. Allegedly Park went to Jones and apologized for the outcome of the match.

Jones trained for years, and thoroughly routed his opponent, only to see his dreams taken away by others. Jones true character was shown when he attended the medal ceremony and accepted the silver medal. Character goes further than any medal made of gold.

Not long after, one of the judges admitted that the decision was a mistake. All of the judges voting against Jones were suspended by the IOC. The IOC conducted an investigation that concluded in 1997, that showed that the judges were wined and dined and basically bought by the Korean officials. Despite the facts becoming known the IOC still stands by the decision. There have been many calls for Jones to be awarded the Gold but the IOC is not budging.

Jones was awarded the Val Barker Trophy, as the best stylistic boxer of the games. Usually this award is given to one of the gold medalists. Being awarded to Jones in 1988 is the last time the award was not given to a gold medalist. The Jones decision did have lasting repercussions as the IOC changed the scoring system for boxing.