This was the 26th appearance of the men's welterweight event. The event appeared at the first Olympic boxing tournament in 1904, was not held in 1908, and has been held at every Games with boxing (that is, excluding 1912) since, beginning with 1920. The maximum weight for the welterweight class has been 69 kg since 2004 and remains there for 2020; the removal of the light-welterweight class moved the lower bound of welterweight from 64 kg to 63 kg.
Defending champion Roniel Iglesias did not qualify, the 2020 silver medalist Pat McCormack turned professional and did not participate, one of the 2020 bronze medalists, the only returning medalist Aidan Walsh lost to Makan Traoré in round of 16, and the other bronze medalist, Andrey Zamkovoy, was not allowed to participate since IOC barred the Russian Olympic Committee due to war in Ukraine.
Like all Olympic boxing events, the competition was a straight single-elimination tournament. The competition began with a preliminary round, where the number of competitors was reduced to 16, and concluded with a final. As there were fewer than 32 boxers in the competition, a number of boxers received a bye through the preliminary round. Both semi-final losers were awarded bronze medals.
Bouts consisted of three three-minute rounds with a one-minute break between rounds. A boxer may win by knockout or by points. Scoring was on the "10-point-must," with five judges scoring each round. Judges consider "number of blows landed on the target areas, domination of the bout, technique and tactical superiority and competitiveness." Each judge determined a winner for each round, who received 10 points for the round, and assigned the round's loser a number of points between seven and nine based on performance. The judge's scores for each round were added to give a total score for that judge. The boxer with the higher score from a majority of the judges was the winner.[3]
1904: 135–145 lb (61.2–65.8 kg) · 1920–1936: 135–147 lb (61.2–66.7 kg) · 1948: 62–67 kg · 1952–2000: 63.5–67 kg · 2004–2012: 64–69 kg · 2016: 65–69 kg · 2020–2024: 64–69 kg · 2024–: 64–71 kg
