Andrew Maynard

Maynard is one of seven Americans to win the Light Heavyweight Gold Medal in the history of the Olympic Games, including Muhammad Ali in 1960.

Andrew Maynard (born April 8, 1964) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2000.

He was the first American to win the Light Heavyweight Gold Medal since Leon Spinks in 1976.

Andrew Maynard, a 1982 graduate of Suitland High School in Prince George's County, Maryland, joined the National Guard in 1985 after having competed in a limited number of amateur boxing contests in the year prior.

Maynard underwent his basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

He began his amateur career in the fall of 1984, surprising many onlookers as he won four consecutive bouts in a well-established amateur boxing tournament at the Ohio State Fair.

And in Shanavazov, the American beat an opponent who was the European champion and the World Cup champion in 1985 as well as the Goodwill Games champion in 1986.

Going on to obtain the highest prize in amateur boxing in Seoul was an amazing achievement for a boxer who picked up the gloves to train only four years earlier.

In his four scheduled bouts, Maynard stopped two opponents and won by unanimous decision twice.

Results were:

In his bout versus Petrich, Maynard was knocked down and came back decisively in the next round to stop his Polish counterpart.

Maynard worked on the inside against Shanavazov throughout the gold medal bout, with both fighters leaning against each other, and was relentless in beating the Russian to the punch.

He was successful in repeatedly throwing left hooks to the body in the first two rounds, while landing a hard right to the head of Shanavazov in the final round.

Encouraged to join by his wife, Susan, he enlisted in the United States Army in the winter of 1986 where he engaged in boxing while assigned to be a cook stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado.

Prior to competing in the United States Olympic Box-Offs, and since 1986, Maynard had won nine of ten boxing competitions — including the two national championships and an armed forces championship.

Subsequently, and deservedly so, the determined 24-year-old had developed a reputation as one of the United States' best amateur boxers at that point in time with a relatively limited but deceiving 35-5 amateur boxing record.

Maynard was the 1987 and 1988 United States Amateur Boxing Champion in the Light Heavyweight division (178 lbs.).

He won the bronze medal at the 1987 Pan American Games, where he first burst into international prominence beating up on Cuban world champion Pablo Romero only to collapse in the second round without being hit.

Later, Maynard acknowledged that he had sustained a broken ankle during a pickup basketball game the day before the Romero bout but didn't tell anybody about it.

"I figure that I owed myself some kind of a gold medal after that situation," he said.

Pan Am Box-Offs (178 lbs.), International Center of the Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, Colorado, July 1987:

As an amateur boxer, he won the gold medal in the Light Heavyweight division at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.

Maynard was later reassigned to special duty with the Fort Carson boxing team after receiving the approval of his company commander to pursue his goal of competing in the 1988 Summer Olympics.

Maynard's final military rank was specialist.

As an amateur boxer, Maynard was a relentless pressure fighter — often throwing 1,000 punches per bout.

So, at the 1988 Summer Olympics, Maynard methodically avoided all basketball courts in Seoul.

In the United States Olympic Box-Offs held from July 16–17, 1988 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, Maynard had to earn a spot on the 1988 United States Olympic Boxing Team as the selected "most noteworthy opponent" by defeating fellow soldier Alfred "Ice" Cole in two bouts on consecutive nights.

The judges' scores for each respective bout was 4–1 in favor of Maynard.

He was one of three amateur boxers — the other two being Kelcie Banks (125 lbs.) and Riddick "Big Daddy" Bowe (Super Hvt.) — who lost in the Olympic trials but made the 1988 United States Olympic Boxing Team by attaining two wins in the United States Olympic Box-Offs.

Maynard went on to win the Light Heavyweight Gold Medal for the United States at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea — averaging an overwhelming 150 punches per round and culminating in the shutout of Nurmagomed Shanavazov, his Russian opponent, on points in the gold medal bout.

He dedicated his gold medal win in honor of his father, Theodore "Slim" Maynard.

The light heavyweight competition in the 1988 Summer Olympics included boxers representing 26 countries.

Along with "King" Kennedy McKinney (Bantamweight division) and "Merciless" Ray Mercer (Heavyweight division), Maynard was one of three Americans to capture gold for the 1988 United States Olympic Boxing Team in Seoul.

Maynard received a hero's welcome immediately upon his return to his home state of Maryland, as he was honored along with other Marylanders who participated in the 1988 Summer Olympics by both the Governor of Maryland and the Maryland Legislature at public ceremonies held at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland.

In typical Maynard fashion, and upon learning that a teacher in Arbutus, Maryland got up in the middle of the night to clean and repair the United States Olympic opening ceremony team jacket and pants that Maynard had damaged on the red eye plane flight from Colorado back to Maryland, he refused to attend the Annapolis celebrations scheduled later in the morning until he first paid a surprise visit to the teacher's special education school.

There, and with the theme song from "Rocky" resonating in the background, the gold medalist posed for photos with students in a makeshift boxing ring constructed with broom sticks and rope.

Following the Olympics, Maynard made the decision to move to Laurel, Maryland where he began his professional career by signing with the management team of "Sugar" Ray Leonard and Mike Trainer.

Maynard was one of five Olympic medalists making their professional debuts on February 24, 1989, in a boxing card held in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

This was a rematch between Maynard and Shanavazov, who competed against each other in the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Heavyweight Invitational held in June 2017 in Richmond, Virginia.

In their first encounter, an action-packed battle, Maynard beat Shanavazov by a 2-1 decision.