LONDON (AP) — Anthony Joshua won the Olympic super heavyweight gold medal in thrilling fashion Sunday, rallying from a third-round deficit to beat defending champion Roberto Cammarelle of Italy in a tiebreaker.
Joshua trailed 13-10 entering the third round, but landed several big shots. The judges scored the fight even at 18, but Joshua won on the countback tiebreaker, which evaluates larger parts of the judges’ total scores.
Italy protested the decision, but the appeal was rejected. The medal ceremony was delayed about 15 minutes.
Joshua lives and trains in London, putting an appropriate finale on the 16-day, 272-bout tournament. Joshua won Britain’s third boxing gold medal at these Olympics, joining bantamweight Luke Campbell and women’s flyweight Nicola Adams.
Cammarelle narrowly missed defending his Beijing gold. He is a three-time Olympic medalist, also winning bronze in Athens.
