World Boxing Championships : Cubans Clean Up at Reno With 4 More Aces

What should have been a champagne party for the U.S. boxing team after Sunday’s windup to amateur boxing’s World Championships nearly turned into a lynching.

Instead, the drink of the day was rum, with the Cubans pouring. They won a record seven gold medals--four on Sunday--in the 12 weight classes, 11 medals in all, in what was generally considered the most competitive tournament since the 1982 World Championships in Munich.

After Cuban light-heavyweight Pablo Romero, in a controversial final bout, won Cuba’s seventh gold medal by beating American Loren Ross, the Cubans hugged each other and high-fived it in their warmup area.

Meanwhile, at ringside, a seething U.S. Coach Pat Nappi, Ross and numerous other U.S. boxing officials looked angry enough to be looking for rope. The prospective lynchee would have been a Japanese referee, Kousuke Yamanaka.

Ross, a 21-year-old soldier from Fort Hood, Texas, was the only U.S. finalist Sunday. He was trying to win a fourth gold medal for the surprising American team.

Romero, also the 1982 world light-heavyweight champion, clearly won on points. Judges gave him a 4-1 verdict. Most ringsiders anticipated a 5-0.

But Nappi claimed repeated low blows weakened Ross. Yamanaka warned Romero once in the bout for a low blow. Three warnings would have disqualified the Cuban.

Nappi complained to Yamanaka at the end of every round. At the final bell, Nappi angrily shouted at Yamanaka: “You call yourself a referee?”

Said U.S. boxing official Rollie Schwartz: “I counted seven low blows by Romero. He also hit Ross twice after the bell.”

Nappi: “I’ve been in amateur boxing since 1940 and that’s one of the worst refereeing jobs I ever saw. I could hear Loren’s cup popping every round. He (Yamanaka) should never be allowed to work another amateur bout.”

An angry Sid Ashton of New Zealand, chief of the referees and judges commission for the International Amateur Boxing Assn. (AIBA), was seen after the bout delivering a lecture to Yamanaka, complete with jabs of his index finger to Yamanaka’s chest.

“I’ve just explained to him (Yamanaka) that this can never happen again,” Ashton said.

Ashton didn’t have a good tournament, either. During one of the semifinals sessions, ringside reporters observed Ashton seated at his post, sound asleep.

And so the young Americans, from whom little was expected, equaled the previous U.S. gold high of three, achieved at Munich. Witnesses were few. The paid crowd Sunday was about 500. A gun show next door at the Reno Convention Center drew 1,500 for the weekend.

Now comes the U.S.A. Amateur Boxing Federation’s quadrennial battle to prevent its world class boxers from turning pro before the next Olympics.

Welterweight Mark Breland and super-heavyweight Tyrell Biggs, 1984 Olympic gold medalists, repeatedly turned down offers to sign big pro contracts between 1982 and ’84.

Said Nappi Sunday, after he had a chance to calm down: “I hope we can hang on to 10 or 11 of these kids. I don’t hold much hope for (Alex) Garcia (the U.S. super-heavyweight silver medalist). I figure, he goes pro. But I’m going to ask Breland and Biggs to talk to these other kids about staying amateur.”

Nappi compared this team to his 1976 (five gold medals) and 1984 (nine golds) Olympic teams.

“This team came outta nowhere,” he said. “Until the last few weeks, we hadn’t even worked with them at all as a group. Some of them, you could count their international bouts on one hand. Those great ’76 and ’84 Olympic teams, we pretty much knew what those teams could do, but these kids . . . hey, they amazed me.”

The three U.S. world champions are featherweight Kelcie Banks, welterweight Ken Gould and middleweight Darin Allen.

The Cuban juggernaut rolls on. At the last four World Championships tournaments, Cuba has won 5, 5, 5 and 7 gold medals.

A country of 9.9 million, Cuba won 11 medals in this tournament against countries 30 times larger. The Soviet Union, for example, where boxing is a major sport, won one gold and four bronze.

The Romero-Ross bout didn’t provide the only controversy Sunday. When Cuban light-flyweight Juan Torres’ 5-0 decision over Puerto Rico’s Luis Rolon was announced, Rolon tried to start round four. When Torres’ hand was raised, Rolon spoke angrily to Torres and shoved him. Torres shoved back. The referee stepped in and stopped the post-fight fight.

The remaining winners: Cuban flyweight Pedro Reyes decisioned Venezuelan David Griman, 5-0; South Korea’s slugging bantamweight, Moon Sung-Kil, decisioned East Germany’s Rene Breitbarth, 4-1; Soviet Union light-welterweight Vasily Shishov decisioned Canada’s Howard Grant, 4-1, and Cuban Angel Espinosa won the light-middleweight title with a 4-1 win over East German Enrico Richter.