World Boxing Championships : Unbeaten Cuban Team Runs Streak to 17 Victories in Row

At the halfway point of the World Championships of amateur boxing, what may be the strongest Cuban boxing team in 10 years seems to have the tournament by the throat.

You were impressed with nine gold medals by the Americans at the Los Angeles Olympics? Stay tuned. The Cubans, in a tougher tournament, could top it.

The Cubans stretched their winning streak to 17 Monday and put their entire 12-man team in the quarterfinals. Light-heavyweight Pablo Romero, bantamweight Arnoldo Mesa and featherweight Jesus Sollet kept Cuba’s win streak alive.

On Monday, the United States team was 3 for 4. U.S. featherweight Kelcie Banks stopped Turkey’s Mehmet Kilig; light-heavyweight Loren Ross won a 5-0 decision over West German Markus Bott, and heavyweight Michael Bent stopped outclassed Nigerian Duke Okoromaye in the second round. U.S. bantamweight Johnny Vasquez absorbed a bad beating, 5-0, from a formidable little slugger from South Korea, Moon Sung-Kil.

The Americans were 8-6 at the end of Monday’s session, with six boxers in the quarterfinals.

While the Cubans could conceivably put a boxer in every final next Saturday and Sunday, they aren’t the only ones winning frequently. Bulgaria brought 10 boxers and has 9 in the quarterfinals and is 12-1. East Germany also brought only 10 boxers and is 11-3 and has 7 boxers in the quarterfinals.

Sung-Kil, ranked No. 1 in the world, is the boxer responsible for creating the 1984 Olympic boxing trivia question: Name the only U.S. boxer not to win a medal in Los Angeles. Answer: Robert Shannon, beaten by Sung-Kil.

Vasquez took a bad beating from Sung-Kil.

“I’m 0 and 4 against South Koreans, and he’s about the toughest I’ve faced,” Vasquez said. “They’re in terrific shape, they just keep coming. You can’t stop them.”

Ross’ win over Bott seemed closer than the judges’ 5-0 score. Ross showed a credible jab, an ability to take a big punch but not much else.

“I felt it was pretty close, I thought it could go either way,” he said. “I was getting hit with a lot of shots, so I was leery of the decision.”

Banks showed one of the classiest left jabs seen in the tournament in his decision over Turkey’s Kilig. In fact, Banks looked like a good bet for a U.S. medal here.

If he beats Bill Downey, 18, of Canada, in Wednesday’s quarterfinals, he is assured a medal. Downey, in his third international bout, upset the Soviet Union’s Serik Nurkazov Tuesday on a 3-2 vote.

Banks, 21, predicted that he would beat Downey.

“I’m ranked No. 2 in the world and No. 1 in the USA, so I feel very good about this tournament. I watched Downey. The Russian didn’t put the kind of pressure on him I will. I’ll make him do things he doesn’t want to do, like deal with my jab.

“The man I beat today, I worked him upstairs and downstairs. I confused him. So when I saw him getting tired, I went downstairs on him, hard. After I did that, everything started working--hooks, jabs, body shots, everything.”

Banks, who has boxed since he was 10, said it was his 13th international victory against 2 losses. At last November’s World Cup in Seoul, he lost to Puerto Rico’s Juan Molina, who has since turned pro.

Two individuals will attempt today to close the curtain on amateur boxing legend Teofilo Stevenson’s 15-year career and a possible fourth trip to the Olympic Games.

One of them wears gloves. He’s a tank-like Bulgarian named Petar Stoimenov, who will fight Stevenson this afternoon in the quarterfinals.

Stevenson’s other opponent is a Hungarian doctor, Peter Jako, a member of the International Amateur Boxing Assn.’s medical commission. Jako wants to ban anyone over 35 from Olympic boxing.

Stevenson is 35 and will turn 37 March 29, 1988.

Jako’s proposal may be submitted at AIBA meetings in Bangkok next November.

Stevenson, three-time gold medalist, will say only that it’s possible he will box at Seoul. In his debut here Friday, Stevenson looked fit in beating East Germany’s Ulli Kaden.

Said Cuba Boxing Federation official Alfredo Casanas: “If Teofilo does well here, we will let him rest for a month or so. Then we will sit down and talk about what he wants to do in 1988. Since this proposal seems directed at him only, we would protest it.”

Dr. Jako said his proposal might be amended to provide for twice-yearly extensive neurological exams for boxers wishing to compete after 35, which would allow Stevenson to compete in Seoul.