A fight ending in gold medal, perhaps (5)
I believe the answer is:
award
'medal perhaps' is the definition.
(medal is a kind of award)
'a fight ending in gold' is the wordplay.
'fight' becomes 'war' (warring is a kind of fighting).
'ending in' indicates one should take the final letters.
The final letter of 'gold' is 'd'.
'a'+'war'+'d'='AWARD'
(Other definitions for award that I've seen before include "Tony, for example" , "Prize -- gift" , "Write up" , "Judicial decision" , "Give officially as prize or payment" .)