THE 1987 PAN AMERICAN GAMES : Boxing : U.S. Has Firepower in Big, Small Packages

On a wild night at the Pan American Games boxing tournament, the smallest and the biggest members of the United States team provided most of the fireworks as U.S. boxers won three of five bouts, all three advancing to the semifinals.

In a major upset, U.S. light-flyweight Michael Carbajal, who trains in a backyard ring in Phoenix and who is coached by his unemployed older brother, knocked off Cuban world champion Juan Torres on a 5-0 decision. That was the second of 12 bouts at the Indiana Convention Center, and it got the “USA” chants cranked up early from a crowd of 2,991.

Carbajal’s totally unexpected victory was the only one for the Americans in three U.S.-Cuba bouts.

Carbajal, a 19-year-old 106-pounder, was boxing an experienced 27-year-old Cuban who won a world title at Reno 15 months ago. And although Carbajal was the winner on every judge’s scorecard, three of them had him winning easily, by 60-56, 60-56 and 60-55 margins. The other two were 59-58 and 58-56.

He’ll box for the gold medal against Puerto Rico’s Luis Rolon Saturday.

American super-heavyweight Riddick Bowe, who later claimed he was boxing with a broken right hand, lost a close decision to giant Cuban Jorge Gonzales, but his courageous rally down the stretch had the crowd on its feet, cheering. Several times in the last round, Bowe appeared to be on the verge of flooring Gonzales.

After going 3-2 Wednesday, the U.S. is 15-5 for the tournament. Cuba, 4-1 Wednesday, is 20-2 and a cinch, as expected, to capture the boxing medal race. Puerto Rico is right behind at 15-5.

Wednesday’s session created these gold medal bouts for Saturday afternoon:

--106 pounds: Michael Carbajal (U.S.) vs. Luis Rolon (Puerto Rico).

--147: Ken Gould (U.S.) vs. Juan Lemus (Cuba).

--165: Otis Grant (Canada) vs. Angel Espinosa (Cuba).

--178: Pablo Romero (Cuba) vs. Nelson Adams (Puerto Rico).

--201+: Jorge Gonzales (Cuba) vs. Lennox Lewis (Canada).

Matchups in the remaining weekend championship bouts will be settled tonight, with 12 more semifinals bouts scheduled.

Among the seven still-standing Americans, only Banks can be said to be a favorite for a gold medal. The Cubans could win as many as eight gold medals.

Bowe, 6-4 and 209 pounds, had the 6-5, 224-pound Cuban in desperate trouble in a memorable third round. The sweet science? Not this one. This was right out of a Saturday night saloon, with two big super-heavyweight throwing and landing haymakers.

Bowe, 20, promised earlier in the week to tag the big Cuban with his “Ghetto Whopper.” And he did. But the big Cuban didn’t fall, and Bowe just missed achieving the evening’s second major U.S. upset.

Bowe came out cold against Gonzales, and the Costa Rican referee, Raphael Vega, gave Bowe two standing-eight counts. The first one followed a flash knockdown late in the round. Three judges gave Gonzales a 20-18 first round, a margin Bowe’s wild rally later couldn’t overcome.

Midway through the second, Bowe snapped out of his lethargy and hammered the Cuban with three consecutive right hands to the head that wobbled the 21-year-old Gonzales, who the Cubans hope can take over the super-heavyweight class for three-time Olympic champion Teofilo Stevenson.

In the third, during a wild exchange between the two that had everyone in the building on their feet, Bowe went down on his back from a Gonzales left, but bounced right back up. He motioned to the Cuban he wanted more, and the cheers grew even louder.

At this point, Bowe’s strength seemed to be growing, while Gonzales was tiring rapidly. With 30 seconds left, Gonzales was reeling, back on his heels, and nearly collapsed into the ropes from a Bowe flurry.

Gonzales and Bowe had everyone heated up. Three Cuban sportswriters, as they left the press area, were cheering too noisily when Gonzales had his hand lifted to suit one spectator, wearing a blue “CUBA” T-shirt. A heated shouting match ensued before police arrived.

Later, in the interview room, Bowe had a split lip but it didn’t slow down his mouth.

“I’ll definitely be in Seoul, looking for Mr. Gonzales again,” he said. “He’d better come with a pension plan, because I’m going to retire him. I had a broken right hand tonight, but it wasn’t a factor in the fight.”

This was news to U.S. Coach Roosevelt Sanders, and to U.S.A. Amateur Boxing Federation executive director Jim Fox, who seemed surprised at Bowe’s remark, in the interview room.

“I broke it at the Olympic Festival (in July), and had it X-rayed at home,” Bowe said. “I wanted to keep it a secret, because they wouldn’t have let me box here.”

Bowe kept right on talking. He dished out a compliment to the Cuban, then took it back.

“The cat can punch, believe me you. But my brothers have hit me harder than that. He takes a good shot. I hit him with some nasty shots and he didn’t go down.”

In between Carbajal and Bowe, the U.S. won twice and lost one. In a bizarre ending to a light-heavyweight semifinal, Andrew Maynard, a soldier from Fort Carson, Colo., appeared to be on his way to a possible upset over Cuban world champion Pablo Romero, when he suddenly collapsed in a corner early in the second round.

It was apparent Maynard hadn’t been hit by a punch, but he rolled and twisted on the deck, in obvious pain. After several minutes went by, Romero was declared the winner on a medical retirement and Maynard left the ring on a stretcher and taken to a hospital. Sanders said afterward Maynard sprained an ankle.

U.S. featherweight Kelcie Banks, as expected, beat Puerto Rican Esteban Flores in his semifinal, but this time he barely squeaked by. He got a 3-2 decision on some peculiar scoring. Most felt Banks won comfortably, but two of the judges who scored it for him did so by only a point, the other by three.

Banks was knocked down in the first and took a standing-eight after being rocked in the third by a right hand, but in between dominated the action with a punishing left jab that Flores never solved.

U.S. world welterweight champion Kenneth Gould and hard-hitting Cuban Juan Lemus advanced to Saturday’s gold medal welterweight bout. Gould won a 5-0 over Puerto Rico’s Rey Rivera, and Lemus, for the third straight time, didn’t have to go the distance. His wicked right hand shots stopped Dominican Pedro Frias in the third round.

Gould is the Michael Spinks of amateur boxing--he always looks terrible, but almost always wins. Wednesday was typical. He lunged, leaped and flailed away at Rivera, and somehow landed enough punches to gain a 5-0 verdict.

When it was all over, Bowe’s comeback was the spectacle that put some fire in this boxing tournament, a relatively lackluster one until bout No. 12 Wednesday.

Rolly Schwartz, a U.S. amateur boxing official for almost 50 years, said Bowe-Gonzales was one for the books.

“Bowe was really something...he’s just a young (20) kid, but he showed me tremendous courage,” he said. “Gonzales was a much bigger guy, and Bowe staggered him several times. When you see an experienced, crisp puncher like Gonzales throwing wild punches like he was, he’s hurt and he’s lost his cool. I thought it was one of the best heavyweight bouts I’ve seen in years.”

Meanwhile, Danny Carbajal, 37, sat quietly in the bleachers, beaming over his little brother’s upset over Cuba’s Torres. Carbajal doesn’t have a job, but nothing seemed to matter Wednesday night, not with little brother Michael headed for a gold medal bout in the Pan Am Games.

“I was a city sewer worker until the City of Phoenix layed me off,” he said. “You were surprised Michael beat the Cuban? Hey, not us. Michael’s going to win the gold here and in Korea, too.”