THE SEOUL GAMES / DAY 8 : Boxing : Gould Leaves No Room for Doubt in Win

Welterweight Ken Gould increased the United States’ winning streak to seven at the Olympic Games boxing tournament Saturday with a unanimous decision over Ghana’s Alfred Ankamah.

Unanimous? This one really was unanimous. Gould won every round on every judge’s scorecard, a rare occurrence in Olympic boxing. The judges, from Italy, Indonesia, South Korea, Argentina and Chinese Taipei, scored it 60-57 (twice), 60-56 (twice), and 60-55.

There were dire predictions by U.S. boxing officials before the Olympics about changes in the judging assignment guidelines, that somehow the deck was stacked against the United States.

But Gould’s was the fifth U.S. decision win here, and afterward U.S. coach Ken Adams said his boxers simply aren’t leaving room for doubt.

“It’s not a question of fair judging, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.

Four Americans are scheduled to box Sunday: light-heavyweight Andrew Maynard and light-flyweight Michael Carbajal in the morning session, flyweight Arthur Johnson and Todd Foster in the evening.

On Friday night, light-welterweight Todd Foster won the United States’ sixth straight with a second-round knockout over Morocco’s Khalid Rahilou. Gould, from Rockford, Ill., beat a slow but dangerous puncher.

He spent the first round probing Ankamah with a left jab, and the rest of the bout backing the Ghanan against the ropes.

“He was just a flat-footed guy, trying to catch me with something big,” Gould said later.

“I felt him out in the first, then as he got tired, it got easy to back him up.”

Gould said the distractions of Kelcie Banks’ early knockout in the tournament and Anthony Hembrick’s no-show are history.

“The media was trying to hype all that stuff up, trying to distract us,” he said. “I’m just going to do my thing, win this gold medal, go home and celebrate.”

Gould has never been a favorite of the U.S. boxing staff, including the coaches. His personal coach is his father, Nate Gould, who is perceived as a meddler. Gould’s father shouted instructions to his son from the bleachers. Between rounds, Gould appeared to be half-listening to Adams, and to his father, who was seated in Row 9.

The Soviet Union’s winning streak was broken at 13 Saturday morning, when welterweight, Vladimir Erechtchenko, was stopped by Zambia’s Dimus Chisala.

Erechtchenko’s right eye started swelling in the first round, was examined by a doctor twice, and the bout was stopped by Uruguayan referee Alberto Duran with 41 seconds left, when the Soviet’s eye was nearly closed.