THE SEOUL GAMES / DAY 7 : Boxing : Ellis Gets 5-0 Victory Over Korean

Lightweight Romallis Ellis registered the United States’ fifth straight victory in the Olympic Games’ boxing tournament Friday morning, a rousing 5-0 thumping of South Korea’s Lee Kang-Suk.

Before the first bell, the United States protested the bout, after a U.S. boxing official in the stands observed that the two coaches in Lee’s corner were two who were involved in Friday’s melee at the boxing ring. The two in Lee’s corner were not among the five who were suspended Thursday.

The protest was lodged by Paul Konnor of Milwaukee, the U.S. representative to the International Amateur Boxing Assn. (AIBA).

“I heard Jim Fox (USA/ABF executive director) yelling at me from the stands, and he pointed out to me that the two coaches were involved in the fracas Thursday,” Konnor said.

“I wanted to make sure our protest was in before the bout started.”

Konnor said the AIBA suspensions, which included five South Koreans who were penalized Thursday for their involvement in the free-for-all after a South Korean’s defeat Thursday, was short two men.

“It should have been seven suspensions, not five,” he said. “I watched the video five times. The two guys in Lee’s corner just now weren’t on the suspended list, but they should have been.

“One of them took a swing at Emil Jetchev during the riot.”

Jetchev, a Bulgarian, is chief of AIBA’s referees and judges commission.

During the 10-minute delay, Ellis bobbed up and down easily in his corner. Then, after a slow start, he took apart his free-swinging opponent over the last two rounds.

Lee seemed to win the first round narrowly, even though Ellis consistently landed his right jab. Lee worked his way inside on Ellis and scored with some hard, short blows to the body and head.

The big South Korean cheering section chanted Lee’s name throughout the bout, but their enthusiasm waned slightly after Ellis, of Ellenwood, Ga., began the second round.

Lee already had a badly bleeding nose in the first round, and the Peruvian referee, Luis Minami, stopped the bout and wiped Lee’s nose.

Early in the second, Ellis opened up and hammered Lee with head blows, and Minami administered a standing-eight count. Late in the round, Lee was out of control, swinging wildly and stumbling, as Ellis pounded away.

Lee got a second standing-eight, and when he went down after a straight Ellis left, it looked for an instant as if it was over. Any combination of knockdowns and standing-eights totaling three in one round or four in a bout terminates the fight.

But Minami ruled Ellis had pushed Lee down, and the U.S. cheering section booed. Minami then summoned a ringside physician to examine Lee’s nose.

Lee got another standing eight in the third round--and another nose-wipe.

U.S. Coach Ken Adams drew two cautions for talking during the round. Afterward, Adams said he was getting tired of the nose-wipes.

“I was yelling at the ref, trying to get him to do his job properly. He was taking forever, wiping the guy’s nose. One time he couldn’t find his 4X4 (gauze), another time he stood there and looked at him . . . he was really taking a lot of time.”

Was Minami, who didn’t call a caution on Lee, intimidated by the events of Thursday? Adams wouldn’t go that far.

“That’s very possible, but I don’t want to say. At least, there wasn’t any question about the bout--Romallis hit him with everything.”

As for Ellis, there were early doubts.

“I was worried at first, listening to that crowd . . . but after the first standing-eight, I didn’t have any doubts. On the knockdown, the ref called it a push, but it was a clean, straight left hand on the chin.”

The lineup for judges drawn for the bout didn’t seem promising to the U.S. team--two East Bloc countries and two North African countries. But in the end, it didn’t matter.

Soviet judge Zaut Gvadjava scored it 59-56 for Ellis. And four others, from Romania, Australia, Tunisia and Morocco all had it 60-57.

So far, the U.S. boxers have proven to be in excellent physical condition, and Ellis-Lee was only the most recent example. At the end, a fresh, sharp-punching U.S. boxer was bouncing punches off the head of an exhausted opponent.

“I could’ve gone six rounds like that, and he was slowing down by the end of the first round,” Ellis said.

Adams said: “That’s given all our guys a shot in the arm, knowing we’re in great shape. It’s great for our guys who haven’t boxed yet, too, because we got into this kind of shape as a team.”

So the Americans are 6-2, with welterweight Ken Gould and light-middleweight Roy Jones heavy favorites to beat two boxers from Malawi Saturday.

That’s not to say the United States is dominating this 13-day tournament, however.

The Soviet boxers are 12-0.