With two traditional ways of winning a boxing match via a knockout or by judge’s decision, the latter can sometimes lead to controversial decisions. None may have been more controversial than the defeat of Floyd Mayweather Jr. to Bulgarian boxer Serafim Todorov in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics featherweight division semi-final. With Mayweather coming out strong in the first two rounds against the older and more experienced Todorov, questions surfaced about the judging and how the scoring of punches were awarded, or in this case, not awarded to Mayweather in this bout. When it was all said and done, Todorov was awarded a 10-9 victory, which even caught the referee by surprise as he mistakenly raised the arm of Mayweather just before the official announcement that awarded the bout in Todorov’s favor.

Todorov would go on to win the silver medal, while Mayweather won his next match to earn the bronze, however, the controversial ruling proved to be Mayweather’s last defeat in a boxing ring – having gone his entire professional career undefeated at 50-0. Mayweather was only 19 years old during the 1996 Olympics and despite the loss, would blossom into one of the most successful professional boxers of all-time.

Offered here are the very shorts that Floyd Mayweather, Jr. wore during this semi-final defeat in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. These Adidas shorts have been photo matched by Resolution Photomatching to the Featherweight semifinal bout between Mayweather and Todorov on August 2, 1996. These shorts are a blue denim color with varying-sized white stars throughout. The waist band is all-white with an “adidas” patch in black on the front. A USA BOXING logo is embroidered on the bottom left front leg. A great piece of boxing history that has been photo matched to one of the most controversial decisions in Olympic boxing history. This comes with a LOA from Resolution Photomatching (426724), who have photo matched these shorts to the 1996 Olympic Featherweight Semifinal bout.

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