Papp was, according to some, the greatest Olympic boxer of all times, earning Gold medals in the 1948, 1952 and 1956 games. He beat José Torres for the gold medal on his last Olympic competition, becoming the first boxer ever to win three Olympic gold medals. Today, he shares that distinction with Teofilo Stevenson and Félix Savón, both of Cuba.
Papp, despite having hand trouble, turned professional in 1957, and immediately began rising on boxing's Middleweight ranks.
But professional boxing was outlawed in Hungary, and he was never allowed to perform in his home country. Furthermore, Papp had to travel to Vienna, Austria each time he was going to train for a fight. Nevertheless, Papp was able to beat each of the top ranked contenders put in front of him, including veteran Tiger Jones, before challenging Chris Christensen for the European Middleweight title. He knocked out Christensen to become Europe's champion, then defeated American fighter Randy Sandy.
Just then, as Papp was about to get a shot at world championship, Hungary's government, perhaps enraged that he challenged their ban of professional boxing by travelling abroad to fight, revoked his right to travel, forcing him into retirement in 1962. Papp has since been the subject of many boxing discussions, boxing fans debating whether he could have been a world champion or not. There have been a few books written about him, and he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.
His record was of 27 wins, no losses and 2 draws, with 21 wins by knockout.