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Gold fix Juarez loses fight, protest; Williams also deniedPosted: Saturday September 30, 2000 12:00 AMUpdated: Thursday November 09, 2000 2:44 PM
SYDNEY, Australia (CNNSI.com) - For the first time since 1948 American boxers will go home from an Olympics without a gold medal. The U.S. officially protested that that inept refereeing cost world 125-pound champion Rocky Juarez a gold medal. The International Amateur Boxing Association allowed the decision to stand, but suspended referee Stanislav Kiersanova of Russia for four years. U.S. officials had asked for the suspension as part of their protest. In another disputed bout, Ricardo Williams Jr. of Cincinnati, the only other U.S. finalist, lost 27-20 to Abdullaev Mahamadkadyz of Uzbekistan in the 139-pound final Sunday. "Ricardo Williams was scoring and not getting points," said Tom Mustin, head coach of the U.S. team. "Rocky couldn't score because they were holding him." While U.S. officials believed Williams won, they did not protest the decision. "We thought Ricardo won the fight, but we didn't want it to sound like sour grapes," U.S. team manager Gary Toney said. Juarez, of Houston, lost 22-14 to a clutching, grabbing Bekzal Sattakhanov of Kazakstan at 125 pounds. The defeat snapped the 20-year-old Juarez's winning streak at 68 bouts spanning two years.
Juarez charged that Sattakhanov was communicating with Kirsanov. "It wasn't until the third round when I hear this guy say a word," Juarez said. "The fighter would look at the referee and tell him a specific word. I knew something was going on then and there." One IOC member watching the bouts thought the Americans won. "To me this is a scandal, the two Americans who lost should not have lost," said Gerhard Heiberg of Norway, who opposes boxing's presence in the Olympics. "I'm not a favorite of the United States, but this cannot be allowed to stand." The losses left U.S. boxers with two silver and two bronze medals, two less medals than they won in Atlanta four years ago and one more than they got in 1992. "I did all I could do, but it wasn't good enough," Juarez said. "I didn't come here to get the silver medal, I'm disappointed. I think he should have been disqualified." Toney said the referee cautioned Sattarkhanov nine times, but he never issued a warning that would have penalized him points and could have led to a disqualification. "I have no idea why the referee was allowing it," Toney said. "How many times do you warn someone before you do something," said WBA heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, who was disqualified for hitting his opponent after the referee called "stop" in the 178-pound semifinals in 1984 at Los Angeles. "I got behind early, but I thought I did enough in the last two rounds to win," said Williams, who trailed 10-5 after the second round. "The judges just didn't agree." Asked if he thought judging cost him a gold, Williams said, "No, he was just better than me. I tried to box him the first two rounds. I thought he'd get tired. I guess I was too far behind." The 5-foot-3 Juarez, four inches shorter than his opponent, got hit repeatedly by left hands and trailed 15-4 after two rounds. Then trailing 17-8 in the second round, Juarez landed five of the next six scoring blows, but Sattakhanov got home two scoring punches in the closing seconds for a 20-13 lead. Juarez kept charging forward and Sattarkhanov kept wrapping him up in the final round. In other finals Sunday, Ponlid Wijan of Thailand beat Bulat Jumadilov of Kazakstan 19-12 at 106; Yermakhan Ibraimov of Kazakstan outpointed Marin Simion of Romania 25-23; Alexander Lebziak of Russia defeated Rudolf Kraj of Russia 20-6 at 178 pounds; and Audley Harrison of Britain whipped Mukhtarkhan Dildabekov of Kazakstan 30-16 for the super heavyweight title. It is the first Olympic boxing gold medal for Britain since Chris Finnegan won at 165 pounds in 1968. Cubans won four gold medals Saturday, matching the number they won in 1996. One of the golds was the record-tying third for heavyweight Felix Savon. Cuba also got two bronze medals. Oleg Saitov of Russia, gold medalist at 147 pounds Saturday, was named the outstanding boxer of the competition. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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