Americans Start Off Strong at Boxing Championships

Frank Pena and Raul Marquez, a couple of 1989 high school graduates, scored impressive victories for the United States today in first-round matches at the World Amateur Boxing Championships.

Pena, 18, of Aurora, Colo., knocked down Peter Jacobsson twice and stopped the Swede in the third round of a 139-pound bout.

Marquez, also 18, of Houston, outscored Javier Martinez of Spain 31-7 on punches scored under a new computer scoring system in a 147-pound match.

Pena and Jacobsson threw left hooks almost simultaneously, but it was the Swede who went down.

“Mine got there first,” said Pena, who put the Swede down again with a combination to the body.

Marquez connected often with head punches with both hands in beating Martinez. The left-handed Marquez, also a 1989 U.S. Amateur champion, forced the Spaniard to take standing 8-counts in the first and third rounds.

The new computer scoring system, in which at least three of the five judges must push a button within a second of a punch for it to be recorded as a point, again made its presence--or lack of it--felt.

Because of a malfunction, the first bout on the afternoon card was scored in the old way, with each judge awarding 20 points to the winner of the round and a lesser number to the loser.

Kirkor Kirkorov of Bulgaria won a 3-2 decision over Aydas Feyzolla of Turkey at 125 pounds.

The computer was in service for the second bout, but one judge didn’t realize it for about 30 seconds and another didn’t know it for almost two minutes. Sandro Casamonica of Italy won the 125-pound bout 27-14 over Lee Hoon of South Korea.