Fred Evans

Victory guaranteed Evans at least a Bronze medal and Evans was one of the five boxers that had equalled Britain's best ever boxing medal tally at an Olympic Games since 1956.

In the semi-final, Evans met the world number one ranked fighter, Ukrainian Taras Shelestyuk.

His victory, along with that of flyweight Andrew Selby, was the first time a Welsh fighter had won gold at the event for 86 years and only the third time a British fighter had won since 1961.

His achievement made him the most successful Welsh boxer in Olympic history, surpassing the record of Ralph Evans at the 1972 Summer Olympics.

Evans was one of two Welsh fighters included in the squad, along with Andrew Selby, the first time any Welsh fighter had made the GB Olympic boxing squad since 1984.

Freddie William Evans (born 4 February 1991) is a British professional boxer fighting in the 69 kg welterweight category.

His selection fulfilled a childhood dream of competing at an Olympic Games having idolised Amir Khan following his breakthrough at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

In preparation for the games, Evans relocated to the Team GB gym run by Robert McCracken and also sparred with Carl Froch ahead of his IBF super-middleweight title fight with Lucian Bute.

In March 2006, Evans' mother and younger sister Scarlett were killed in an automobile accident on the A48 near Cardiff.

Evans is a member of the travelling community and is the cousin of fellow boxer Gary Buckland.

Evans joined St Joseph's Amateur Boxing Club in Newport as a teenager.

He developed a reputation as a talented fighter and won a gold medal at the Four Nations Championships, a tournament between fighters from the Home Nations, at the age of 15 weeks after the death of his mother.

As an amateur, he won gold at the 2007 World Cadet Championships in Hungary and won gold for Wales at the 2011 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Ankara.

He was the first Welsh boxer to achieve the feat in 86 years.

Evans won Olympic silver for Great Britain in the welterweight division, losing in the final to Kazakh boxer Serik Sapiyev.

Evans went on to win gold at the 2007 World Cadet Championships in Hungary.

He also entered the 2008 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in Guadalajara but was defeated by eventual winner, Irish fighter Ray Moylette.

In the same year, Evans was picked to travel with the British side to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing at the age of 17 in order to experience the atmosphere at the games before being selected for the GB development squad.

Evans was also one of eight fighters from St Josephs who were chosen to represent Wales in the Senior Novice Welsh Championships against a team from the United States in 2009.

The following year, he was selected in a British side for an event against boxers representing the Rest of the World organised by the World Boxing Council (WBC).

Evans met American fighter Errol Spence Jr.. where, despite a strong start to the fight, he eventually suffered a 15–9 points defeat.

The same year Evans competed in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi but suffered a first round points defeat to Mauritanian fighter Kennedy St-Pierre.

In 2011, Evans competed in the European Amateur Boxing Championships in Ankara.

He defeated Belarusian Magomed Nurutdinov 15–9 on points to win a gold medal.

Later the same year, Evans reached the quarter-finals of the 2011 AIBA World Boxing Championships in Baku, being stopped by Lithuanian Egidijus Kavaliauskas.

Following his performances at the European and World Championships, Evans was confirmed as the youngest member of Britain's boxing squad for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London in late 2011 at the age of 21, entering the tournament as the number two ranked amateur welterweight in the world.

Evans made his Olympic debut on 29 July 2012 against Algerian Ilyas Abbadi in front of a partisan home crowd at the ExCeL London.

His quarter-final exit in the previous years world championships resulted in Evans losing out on a first round bye.

Boxing pundit Steve Bunce commented the Evans "picked his punches with ease" as he won the fight by a comfortable 18–10 points decision.

His victory set-up a rematch with Egidijus Kavaliauskas who had defeated Evans at the world championships the previous year.

Kavaliauskas proved a much sterner test in the second round, as the Lithuanian took the first round of the bout.

Evans fought back to tie the fight at 5–5 at the end of the second round before producing a "masterclass" in the third to secure an 11–7 victory and advance to the quarter-finals.

Evans met Canadian Custio Clayton in the quarter-final, ending the first round with a five-point advantage over his opponent.

However, Clayton fought back, trailing by two points after the second round before tying the fight at 14 each at the end of the fight.

As a result, the fight was decided by countback, handing Evans victory.

The Canadian team unsuccessfully appealed the decision, claiming Evans should have been deducted points for receiving persistent warnings from the referee.

He turned professional in 2015.

Evans was born in Cardiff, Wales to Tracey and Fred Evans.

From a young age, he showed a keen interest in boxing, first attending a gym at the age of four with his father.

He took up the sport himself, initially joining Cwmavon Hornets' gym, and fought his first bout at the age of ten.