U.S. Pan American Games Boxoffs : Two Champions Make the Squad; Allen Favored to Join Them

Two of the United States’ three world champion amateur boxers made the U.S. Pan American Games boxing team Friday night, and a third will be a heavy favorite to make the 12-man team today at the Broadmoor Hotel.

Chicago featherweight Kelcie Banks made it the easy way, on a walkover. Kenneth Gould, a hard-punching welterweight from Rockford, Ill., scored a 5-0 decision over Derrick Rolon of Elizabeth, N.J.

The remaining American world champion from 1986, middleweight Darin Allen, posted an easy 5-0 decision over Anthony Hembrick of Fort Bragg, N.C., but must repeat that task today in a rematch, because Hembrick was the Olympic Festival champion 10 days ago.

Allen, who promises he’ll make the Pan Am team this afternoon, also promises a dynamite U.S. team for the Aug. 13-23 Pan Am boxing tournament at Indianapolis. Look out Cuba, he says.

“The team we are putting together here will be devastating,” he said. “The team we had at the world championships (Reno, 14 months ago) had very little experience. Believe me, we’ll do very well against Cuba.”

Allen, who defeated Cuban Julio Quintana on his way to the gold medal at Reno, said the U.S. team at Indianapolis will be combat-ready.

“The competition is tremendous in the U.S.,” he said. “Just in my weight class (165 pounds), there are five or six guys who could beat the Cubans.”

Friday night’s 11-bout card (Banks didn’t have to box), witnessed by a full house of 1,500 at the Broadmoor International Center, filled 10 of the 12 spots on the Pan Am team. The team so far:

106 pounds--Michael Carbajal, Phoenix; 119--Michael Collins, La Porte, Tex.; 125--Kelcie Banks, Chicago; 132--Patrick Byrd, Flint, Mich.; 139--Todd Foster, Great Falls, Mont.; 147--Kenneth Gould, Rockford, Ill.; 156--Frank Liles, Syracuse, N.Y.; 165--Darin Allen, Columbus, Ohio.; 178--Andrew Maynard, Ft. Carson, Colo.; 201--Michael Bent, Cambria Heights, N.Y.; Over 201--Riddick Bowe, Brooklyn, N.Y.

East Los Angeles flyweight Jose Arreola, who’d registered a 4-1 decision over Arthur Johnson at the Olympic Festival, lost a 5-0 verdict Saturday night and must box Johnson again today.

Arreola, who trains at the same East L.A. gym that produced 1984 gold medalist Paul Gonzales, the Hollenbeck Youth Center, sat ruefully backstage in the Broadmoor’s International Center Friday night, trying to gear up for another bout today.

“I’ve got to throw more punches against this guy,” he said. “I was waiting too much.”

Arreola’s opponent, Johnson, a senior at the University of Minnesota, got off to a fast start, pounding Arreola heavily for the first 45 seconds of the fight. Arreola rallied, but by late in the third round Arreola was fading rapidly.

Allen will be a heavy favorite today against Hembrick in the second and final boxoff bout. Friday, in a lively brawl, Allen was the stronger boxer in the third and final round and won comfortably.

“I felt very sharp tonight, and I’m going to box even harder today,” he said.

All of Friday’s bouts were decision wins except for two in the heavier classes. In the light-heavyweight bout, the referee saved Marine Joe Pemberton from further punishment from Maynard and stopped the bout in the third round.

In the super-heavyweight bout, Bowe made the team when he stoped Charlton Hollis of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,at 1:13 of the first round.