The United States was shut out of a boxing gold medal for the first time since 1948 Sunday as its final hopes, Ricardo Juarez and Ricardo Williams, were outpointed in the finals.
Despite a furious flurry to start the final round of his bout, Williams lost to Mahamadkadyz Abdullaev of Uzbekistan 27-20 in the 139-pound gold-medal bout.
In an earlier bout, Juarez struggled to get close enough to hit Bekzat Sattarkhanov of Kazakhstan. After his 22-14 loss for the 125-pound title, he blamed referee Stanislav Kirsanov for allowing his opponent to hold and tie up his arms.
“I didn’t get to do what I like to do,” a disconsolate Juarez said after the loss, his robe hood pulled low over his head.
“He kept pulling and grabbing me. I kept looking at the referee and waiting for him to do something.”
U.S. team manager Gary Toney said he would file a protest.
“The referee issued nine cautions and never penalized the guy,” Toney said.
Rules, he said, call for a warning and two-point penalty after three cautions and penalties thereafter, including a disqualification upon a fifth caution.
Juarez had trouble getting inside his taller opponent’s reach. Sattarkhanov nullified Juarez’s strengths by not letting him get close early.
Late in the third round, Juarez finally broke through, nailing his opponent with a solid three-punch combination and forcing him to hold.
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Going into the final round trailing by seven points, Juarez came out pounding to the body. The crowd booed as Kirsanov warned Sattarkhanov, but did not penalize him for holding. Juarez could not push his way through the grasping arms of his opponent, who literally held on, caught the lunging Juarez with a right, then danced away to seal the victory.
Juarez, nicknamed Rocky by his grandmother in tribute to the late Rocky Marciano, failed to extend a two-year, 68-fight winning streak in his gold-medal fight.
He and Williams, 19, entered the ring aware of their teammates’ emotional support. Although the team couldn’t finish its promising start, those who have been eliminated have put their individual disappointments aside to bolster the remaining duo.
“Our team supports each other, wishes the best for each other,” said Juarez, 20, who was trying to add Olympic gold to the world championship he won last year in his hometown of Houston.
Saturday, meanwhile, was distinctly Cuba’s day in boxing. All four of the Cubans who reached the finals won gold medals.
After teammates Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz at 119 pounds, Mario Kindelan at 132 pounds and Jorge Gutierrez at 165 pounds stepped to the winner’s podium, heavyweight Felix Savon won his third Olympic gold medal.
He tied the record of legendary Cuban heavyweight Teofilo Stevenson by outpointing tough Russian Sultanahmed Ibzagimov 21-13.
The Russian caught Savon with a few good shots, but like others before him–particularly Michael Bennett of the American team–he could not avoid Savon’s persistent and long-reaching right hand, which sealed the match.
Savon appeared to enter the fight with a small cut under his left eye, which became a bleeding gash late in the fourth and final round. He danced away from Ibzagimov for the final 15 seconds, apparently protecting the injury. When he stepped onto the gold-medal podium later, he did not have the cut bandaged. He stepped onto the gold-medal podium without having the cut bandaged.
It was all consistent with his warrior image throughout, as was his bringing his 6-foot-6-inch stature into the ring by stepping over the ropes rather than ducking through them as most boxers do.
Meanwhile, Yermakhan Ibraimov of Kazakstan beat Marin Simion of Romania 25-23 to win the gold medal Sunday in the 156-pound class of Olympic boxing.
Pornchai Thongburan of Thailand and Jermain Taylor of the United States got the bronze.
Wijan Ponlid of Thailand beat Bulat Jumadilov of Kazakhstan 19-12 to capture the gold medal at 112 pounds.