And, frankly, Savon looked.........amateurish.  He's old and
lost his youth.  I wasn't too impressed with his finals bout, to tell
you the truth.  

Mel

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Savon is on his way out to be sure but a great ending (near ending) to his
career... first time since 1948 the US were shut out of Olympic gold in
boxing??? Is that correct??? So that makes one in LA and 1 in Barcelona and
now zero... getting to a phase of international parody like none other in
international amateur boxing...

Patrick

Mel

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Amateur Boxing News at:
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Nick
===--->> Exit, stage right even!

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Amateur Boxing News at:
www.amateur-boxing.com
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American boxers 0-for-Sydney in gold medals

By ED SCHUYLER Jr.
AP Boxing Writer
October 1, 2000

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- American boxers will go home from an Olympics
without a gold medal for the first time since 1948.

They won't go quietly though, complaining that holding cost them one gold
and bad scoring a second.

Protests were filed over both bouts. Officials of the International Amateur
Boxing Association indicated they would be heard later in the day.

``Ricardo Williams was scoring and not getting points,'' said Tom Mustin,
head coach of the U.S. team. ``Rocky (Juarez) couldn't score because they
were holding him.''

The 19-year-old Williams, of Cincinnati, who had outpointed Diogenes Luna
of Cuba 42-41 in a semifinal bout, lost 27-20 to Abdullaev Mahamadkadyz of
Uzbekistan in the 139-pound final Sunday.

Juarez, a world champion from 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 over two years.

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
fewer 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.''

Gary Toney, U.S. team manager, said Russian referee Stanislav Kirsanov
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.''

As to whether the protests would have any affect, Toney said, ``Probably
not.''

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 third for heavyweight Felix Savon. Cuba also got
two bronze.

Oleg Saitov of Russia, gold medalist at 147 pounds Saturday, was picked as
the outstanding boxer of the competition.