The Beat Goes OnThree U.S. boxers gained the semifinals, and the draw for one, Nate Jones, took a sudden turn for the betterby Johnette Howard
It was bizarre—which is to say that it was just another day of boxing. Victorious U.S. 201-pound boxer Nate Jones was halfway through his postfight news conference yesterday at Alexander Memorial Coliseum when his voice trailed off. On a TV to his right a bout was going on to determine who would face Jones in tomorrow's semifinal, and Canada's David Defiagbon had just jackknifed and dropped to the canvas as if his legs had been yanked from under him. Defiagbon was rolling on the floor, clawing at his groin with one glove, complaining that he'd been struck by a low blow from France's Christophe Mendy. At first Mendy just blinked. Then he backed off and looked at Pakistani referee Abduk Samad. Then he looked down in disbelief at Defiagbon.
Jones pounded on Jiang for a 21-4 victory and stayed on track for a gold medal showdown with Savón.
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"That wasn't a low blow," U.S. coach Jesse Ravelo said derisively, his eyes glued to the same television Jones was watching. But Defiagbon was still down and writhing, writhing, writhing, his face contorted in pain.
"Oh, come on," Jones said, wagging his head and stifling a laugh. Replays showed Mendy had thrown a short right hand that caught Defiagbon at his beltline, maybe a smidgen low but certainly not low enough to cause the prolonged thrashing now going on in the ring for three minutes, four minutes.There was 1:59 left in the third round, and Defiagbon was clinging to a 10-9 lead when he collapsed. "I didn't want to win this way," Defiagbon said after the fight. "I wasn't faking it. I felt like I was hit by electric shock."
"There was no reason for David to put on a show or fake it," Canadian coach Yvon Michel insisted. No reason at all, except that Mendy was the second-ranked heavyweight in the world, the one fighter given a good chance to end the Olympic reign of Cuban world champion Félix Savón, who won gold in '92, and Mendy was gaining on Defiagbon. From the outset of the third round the Frenchman had been boring in on Defiagbon, stalking him into the corners, slinging punches that were backing him up. Then that one marginal blow went flying. And after a doctor examined Defiagbon in the ring and took the Canadian's word that he couldn't continue, Mendy was disqualified. The fight was stopped.
"This is sacrilegious. I've sacrificed years of my life for this," an enraged Mendy said through an interpreter, his eyes teary after his disqualification. "This is dishonest. Why stop that fight? Why?"
Unless a protest filed by France's Olympic boxing federation on behalf of Mendy is judged valid before tomorrow's semifinal bouts, Jones's chances of reaching the gold medal fight have greatly increased. Though Defiagbon is more mobile than Mendy, he's not nearly as polished or as hard-hitting. His arms are licorice-thin. As commanding as Jones was in his 21-4 victory over China's Jiang Tao yesterday, even Jones admitted, "It probably would've meant more to me to beat Mendy. Everyone was picking him to win the gold medal. I'm not supposed to be here. A lot of people said I can't punch, that I'm a street kid, that I'll never amount to anything. I'm trying to prove them wrong."
Jones was one of four Americans fighting in yesterday's quarterfinal round. At 106 pounds, Albert Guardado of Topeka, Kans., lost a 19-14 decision to Oleg Kiryukhin of Ukraine. But southpaw Terrance Cauthen, a lightweight who trains in former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier's Philadelphia gym, outboxed Thailand's Veongviact Phongsit 14-10. And 165-pounder Rhoshii Wells, the beneficiary of some stingy scoring in the second round, advanced to a semifinal showdown against Cuban great Ariel Hernández. Wells and Dilshood Yarbekov of Uzbekistan tied 8-8, but Wells won the bout on a tiebreaker—49 blows landed to Yarbekov's 45. All three U.S. winners are now assured of no worse than bronze medals. Three more U.S. boxers go today in the remaining quarterfinal bouts.
Frazier was ringside to watch Cauthen's bout, and he later held a news conference ostensibly to praise Cauthen. But when he was asked what he thought of ACOG's choice of Muhammad Ali as the person to light the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremonies, Frazier launched into a bitter assessment of his former archrival, whom he derisively kept referring to as "Cassius" or "the Butterfly." Alluding to Ali's uncontrolled trembling from Parkinson's disease, Frazier said, "I was pleased he was able to get the torch and light it and not fall in." Then he added, "They could've gotten someone else who would have been able to make it to the torch. It was a slap in the face to boxing. He was a draft dodger. He didn't like his white brothers. He hasn't done much for the sport. I think there are guys who have done more."
When Frazier was asked if he would have been a better choice, he shot back, "Why not? I'm a good American." And after tossing a few more barbs, he was gone. But not before his daughter Jacquie Frazier-Lyde took the microphone and brazenly plugged Frazier's autobiography, Smokin' Joe, which was released this spring.
For boxing, it was just another day at the gym.
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