THE 1987 PAN AMERICAN GAMES : Boxing : Victorious Cubans Give U.S. an Opening for ’88

Cuba went 5 for 5 on the final day of the Pan American Games boxing tournament Sunday and finished with a record 10 gold medals in the 12 weight classes.

The United States, in its worst Pan Am Games showing since 1951, won one gold medal, on featherweight Kelcie Banks’ 5-0 decision over Dominican Emilio Villegas.

In the aftermath, when U.S. amateur boxing officials surveyed the wreckage, it seemed as if the United States’ best chance for 1988 would be for the Cubans to boycott the Olympic Games at Seoul, South Korea.

And after Sunday’s final bout, the Cuban boxing coach indicated that was a distinct possibility.

In the Indiana Convention Center interview room, Cuban Coach Alcides Sagarra was discussing Cuba’s boxing prospects for 1988 when he suddenly switched tracks and, through an interpreter, said: “The Olympics should be in both North and South Korea. If they don’t go, we will not compete, either.”

By “they,” it seemed as if he was referring to East Bloc nations, but when asked to clarify who he meant by “they,” he wavered.

“We don’t think of those things,” he said, “because it is not our position to. Our (boxing) group will prepare, but . . . the Olympics should be shared. If other people don’t go, we probably won’t go. Cuba’s position is clear. If the Olympics are not shared, Cuba will not go.”

After the U.S. team went 1 for 12 in the gold medal race, there was talk by U.S. boxing coaches and officials about an improved team for 1988. But with young Cuban boxers such as Juan Lemus, Adalberto Regalado and Manuel Martinez dominating their weight classes along with established international champions Jorge Gonzales, Pablo Romero, Orestes Solano and Angel Espinosa, the Cubans may be even stronger by 1988, should they choose to compete in the Olympics.

After winning five golds Saturday, Cuba added these five Sunday:

--Flyweight Adalberto Regalado scored a 5-0 decision over Venezuelan David Griman. Regalado goes home with a gold medal . . . and an autograph from his hero, Sugar Ray Leonard.

--Light-middleweight Orestes Solano scored a 5-0 decision over a rugged Puerto Rican, Freddy Sanchez.

--Light-heavyweight Pablo Romero knocked out Puerto Rico’s Nelson Adams with a right-handed blow that appeared to some to be a disqualifying foul.

--Super-heavyweight Jorge Gonzales plodded to an uninspiring 4-1 decision over Canada’s Lennos Lewis.

--Light-welterweight Candelario Duvergel easily defeated Todd Foster of Great Falls, Mont., 4-1.

In bout No. 5 Sunday, Banks, who entered the tournament as the world champion featherweight, held off the charging Villegas to prevent a U.S. gold shutout.

Cuba finished 36-2 for the tournament, and the United States was 18-11. Puerto Rico was 16-7. Espinosa, the Cuban middleweight who won a gold medal Saturday, was named the tournament’s most outstanding boxer.

The United States won one gold, four silver and three bronze medals. In the nine previous Pan Am Games, the United States failed to win at least two gold medals only once, in 1951, when it won none. That year, the Games were in Buenos Aires, and Eva Peron sat at ringside and kissed every Argentine boxer as he entered the ring. . .and Argentine boxers won all nine gold medals.

Cuba won eight golds at Caracas, Venezuela, in 1983, and won seven golds at the 1986 World Championships at Reno, also a record. Plainly, the Cubans are on a roll. They also sometimes get help from referees and judges.

When Romero cold-cocked Puerto Rico’s Adams with a right hand in the third round Sunday, it appeared he did so after measuring his opponent’s head--holding a glove to his face--with an open-gloved left hand. In amateur boxing, it’s a disqualifying foul, but only if the referee sees it.

A review of the video tape of the bout later confirmed that Romero measured Adams, and also that he hit him with a low blow, a left, seconds before he knocked him out.

For a lesser offense, knocking down an opponent immediately after a referee’s break command, U.S. light-heavyweight Evander Holyfield was disqualified in the 1984 Olympic Games.

The referee Sunday, Louis Brito of Venezuela, seemed not to notice that Romero measured his helpless opponent. Brito apparently also couldn’t see that Adams was in desperate need of a standing eight-count. For about 20 seconds before the knockout, Romero, who is also the world champion, was hitting Adams at will.

Under U.S.A. Amateur Boxing Federation rules, if a boxer measures an opponent and then knocks him out, it’s a disqualifying foul. Under International Amateur Boxing Federation rules, it’s supposed to be an unsportsmanship disqualification. Sunday, for Romero, it was a gold medal.

Asked after the bout if he thought a foul had occurred, Puerto Rican assistant coach Jose Vellon, who worked Adams’ corner, said: “To me, it looked like a clean blow.”

Vellon is a Puerto Rican who lives in Cuba.

All afternoon, the Cuban national anthem was played. When super-heavyweight Jorge Gonzales danced to a dull 4-1 decision over Canada’s Lewis, Cuba’s hero of the Bay of Pigs invasion, Jose Ramon Fernandez, was invited into the ring, where he presented Gonzales with the gold medal, then embraced him.

From his second-row seat, Fernandez also congratulated each of Cuba’s five winners as they left the ring.

Afterward, Pat Nappi, head coach of the last three U.S. Olympic boxing teams, said the Cuba’s domination here means little in terms of a 1988 projection.

“Remember one thing,” he said. “We went to Havana in 1974 for the World Championships and won one gold medal. Everyone said we’d have a terrible Olympic team in 1976, that the Cubans would murder us. Well, we didn’t do so bad--we won five gold medals.

“We definitely have enough talent out there to do as well as we did in 1976 or 1984.”

Nappi also said a beefed-up training program for U.S. boxers at their Colorado Springs training camp is essential.

“We had these 12 kids in camp for 2 1/2 before we brought them here, and we should have 30 or 35,” he said. “These kids need to be challenged in training, have someone behind them who can put pressure on them.”

Banks, as expected, had little trouble with Villegas, his Dominican opponent. Villegas held Banks frequently, but for the most part the Houston featherweight kept the Dominican at bay with a left jab.

Foster was outclassed. He was up against a long-armed Cuban who is the defending Pan Am champion in the 139s. Predictably, Duvergel peppered him throughout with a left jab, and the much shorter-armed Foster couldn’t get inside.

It was a rout. Amazingly, one judge, Canada’s Len Johnson, called it 58-57 for Foster. Every other judge had Duvergel by at least five points.

It was such a dull mismatch, that in the middle of the second round, even Muhammad Ali couldn’t bear to watch. When he got up from his ringside seat to leave, more people in the crowd of 6,845 were standing to watch him walk out than were watching Duvergel-Foster.

“It was my fault,” Foster said. “I let him establish that left jab in the first round, and I couldn’t get around it.”