Better late than silver.
Roughly 36 years after he was robbed of an Olympic championship, Roy Jones Jr. tearfully accepted the gold medal from the man who controversially beat him – Park Si-Hun of South Korea.
Park, now 59, initiated the meeting by traveling to Jones’ ranch in Pensacola, Fla., where he surprised his former foe by gifting him the 1988 medal. The sentimental reunion occurred over two years ago but is just now being released in a short video directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Johnny Sweet.
There’s hope this becomes a larger documentary on Jones.
“That is crazy,” Jones says while smacking his forehead and holding the gold for the first time.
Park’s 3-2 decision victory over Jones Jr. remains one of the most infamous moments in boxing history. Dominated from opening to final bell, Park benefitted from home cooking by judges – the ‘88 Olympics were held in Seoul, South Korea – as Marv Albert announced to the American TV audience, “Park Si-Hun has stolen the bout.”
For 16 years, that light-middleweight fight represented Jones Jr.’s last non-DQ defeat. He emerged as the pound-for-pound champ in professional boxing, carrying the middleweight divisions with flair, speed and victories over Bernard Hopkins and James Toney.
Following his Olympic disappointment, Jones Jr. occupied a short list of top-draw fighters alongside Mike Tyson, Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather.
Park, on the other hand, felt ashamed by the victory and spiraled into a severe depression while fighting “suicidal urges,” according to an AP story in 2020.
He declined opportunities to go pro and spent 13 years as a middle- and high-school teacher before returning to boxing as a coach.
“I was pretty quick for a middleweight, but Jones was at a different level,” Park recalled to the AP. “A boxer just knows whether he had won or lost a match. I thought I lost because I didn’t put up a fight deserving of a win.”
Over three decades later, Park flew to Florida to try to right the wrong with a gift of gold.
“Filming that scene felt surreal,” Sweet, who also directed documentaries on Ron Artest and Michael Vick, told The Post. “Was like watching history correcting itself in real time, especially since Roy cried the same exact way he did in Seoul when he didn’t win.”