Out Of LuckA tough night in the ring for the U.S. ended with just one boxer, David Reid, gaining the finalsby Johnette Howard
AN AMERICAN fighter cried rip-off. A U.S. judge quit. And just when it appeared that things couldn't get any worse for the American boxing team, it suffered the most unthinkable upset of the grueling Olympic boxing tournament.
Of all the U.S. fighters, Antonio Tarver was supposed to be the closest thing to a gold medal lock, in the 156-pound weight class. He was the team's veteran, a 27-year-old star who had won the Pan American Games crown and his first world championship in 1995. But none of that could help Tarver last night at Georgia Tech's Alexander Memorial Coliseum in his Olympic semifinal against Kazakhstan's Vassili Jirov.
Mayweather tried in vain to catch up with Todorov and lost a disputed 10-9 decision.
photograph by
After a somnambulant first round and a frenzied second, this fight was destined to come down to who had the most left
in the third. And it wasn't Tarver. As
the last three minutes flitted by, his
blows came slower and slower and ... slower. When the 15-9 decision was announced, there wasn't much Tarver could say about it.
However, teammate Floyd Mayweather, who had fought earlier in the evening, was justifiably upset about the curious scoring in his 10-9 loss to three-time 125-pound world champion Serafim Todorov of Bulgaria. Immediately after the bout, American coach Al Mitchell and team manager Gerald Smith filed a protest, which should be addressed today. Then judge Bill Waeckerle of the U.S., a 15-year veteran of international boxing, tendered a one-page resignation letter to Anwar Chowdhry, president of AIBA (boxing's international governing body). Waeckerle wrote, "Frankly, Mr. President, the [present computer scoring] system does not work."
After citing the Mayweather-Todorov bout as "the blatant example" of "totally incompetent" judging, Waeckerle added, "It is apparent that the system is not capable of correcting itself with the people currently in charge of selecting and assigning officials. The referee cautioned the Bulgarian boxer at least five times for slapping, without a warning, and even worse, the judges
were counting them as scoring blows."
When the decision was announced for Todorov, referee Hamadi Hafez Shouman of Egypt made another gaffe—he raised Mayweather's hand in victory.
Of the six U.S. boxers who fought in the semifinal round over the past two days, David Reid was the only one to win his bout. He scored an impressive 12-4 victory over Uzbekistan's Karim Tulaganov in the 156-pound weight class yesterday, dropping Tulaganov with a crushing right with 1:24 left in the second round. "I thought he was out [cold]," Reid said.
Tomorrow he will fight one of the seven Cubans—Alfredo Duvergel—who led the parade into the final round. After falling behind Kazakhstan's Ermakhan Ibraimov early in the third round of an action-packed fight, Duvergel dug deep and rallied for a 28-19 victory.
Reid and Duvergel have never met, but Reid didn't seem especially concerned. After seeing what had happened to Mayweather, he just wants to make sure his last fight won't be close.
Yesterday morning, Mitchell, captain of the U.S. team, said that he would give Lewis his anchor spot, but that it would crush him to do so. The intrigue will continue into this afternoon. Hunt said Burrell will run warmup sprints before the U.S lineup is submitted. Lewis was scheduled to meet last night with Mitchell and then with Mitchell, Hunt and assistant team leader Charlie Greene. "I'd just like to hear from Carl that he supports us, right here," said Mitchell, pulling at the portion of his track singlet that covers his heart.
The issue has lingered through the week, clouding a remarkable competition. Yet even in the murk of controversy, one never need look far to find sweet clarity. Last night's reminder came when Joyner-Kersee walked to the awards podium, wearing blue pants that covered sore legs, a white top and a red bow in her hair. A medal was draped around her neck for the final time, and bronze has never looked more like gold.
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