World Boxing Organization (as they did with several established champions in the lower weight divisions), the WBO sanctioned a fight between two relatively unknown fighters, Francesco Damiani (winner of the super heavyweight silver medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics) and Johnny DuPlooy, to determine the inaugural holder of its own heavyweight title in 1989. All other sanctioning bodies of boxing recognized the then-undefeated Mike Tyson as the undisputed heavyweight champion. Damiani, meanwhile, went on to become the first WBO heavyweight champion. At heavyweight, especially in the United States, the organization initially struggled to gain credibility as a major sanctioning body, with WBO heavyweight
Boxing at the 2011 Pan American Games – Heavyweight Boxing at the 2011 Pan American Games – Heavyweight Men's heavyweight boxing competitions at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara will be held from October 22 to October 29 at the Expo Guadalajara Arena. Heavyweights were limited to those boxers weighing less than or equal to 91 kilograms. The defending champion was Osmay Acosta from Cuba. Like all Pan American boxing events, the competition was a straight single-elimination tournament. Both semifinal losers were awarded bronze medals, so no boxers competed again after their first loss. Bouts consisted of four rounds of two minutes each, with one-minute breaks between rounds.