BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS : U.S. Victory Streak Goes South : Boxing: Left-handed featherweight from CIS beats Wheeler to hand Americans first loss in seven bouts.

The U.S. Olympic boxing winning streak ended at six Wednesday when featherweight Julian Wheeler couldn’t figure out a troublesome left-hander from the Commonwealth of Independent States, Ramazi Paliani.

But Montell Griffin, the Studio City light-heavyweight who needed an attorney to make the team after being denied entry into the boxoffs, won two bouts later with a decision over Botswana’s France Mabiletsa.

In a bout so devoid of action that some of the 1,500 spectators began booing in the second round, Wheeler lost an 8-4 decision. To add insult to injury, Paliani kicked Wheeler in the leg at the final bell.

Griffin, a powerfully built 5-foot-7 puncher who likes to deliver quick, hard left jabs from a crouch position, wasn’t at his best Wednesday, but he had more than enough to beat Mabiletsa, 10-4.

Crouching and rocking his upper body from side to side, Griffin hurt Mabiletsa several times and had leads of 3-1 and 5-2 after the first two rounds.

With 42 seconds left in the first round, Griffin landed a powerful right hand over the much taller Mabiletsa’s jab, and Spanish referee Jose Martin gave the Botswanan a standing-eight count. Another standing-eight came 20 seconds later when Griffin landed a left hook.

When the first round ended, Mabiletsa headed for the wrong corner.

The third round was easily Griffin’s best, and he seemed to lock up the decision when he landed a right-left-right combination with 1:32 to go.

Later, he said the team’s lack of sparring--a common complaint by the U.S. boxers--was one of the reasons for his poor timing.

“I was a little slow, a little sluggish tonight,” he said. “I haven’t sparred for a week and a half. The guy had long arms and he was running . . . and I let him off the hook a couple of times.”

So Griffin advances to the second round of the preliminaries, where he will box South Korean’s Yo Da Ko on Friday.

Wheeler was almost completely mystified by an upright left-handed opponent. Paliani simply ducked Wheeler’s jabs, and when the American rushed in to land body blows, Paliani either tied him up or tapped him with a jab coming in.

“It was apparent Julian needed more schooling in boxing left-handers,” assistant coach Roosevelt Sanders said. “We thought he was ready for lefties, but he obviously wasn’t.”

For Wheeler, a U.S. Navy postal clerk stationed at Virginia Beach, Va., it has been an eventful past several weeks.

First was the excitement of the Olympic selection process, when he shocked most everyone by beating Ivan Robinson in Worcester, Mass., at the Olympic trials. Then he did it again in Phoenix to make the team, all this while his wife, Michele, was expecting.

When Wheeler arrived July 17 at the athletes village in Barcelona, he called home immediately and was told a son had been born moments before he had called. His wife arrived in Barcelona on Wednesday, but 30 minutes after his bout, Wheeler still didn’t know if his wife had seen him fight.

U.S. Coach Joe Byrd Byrd agreed Wheeler was baffled by Paliani.

“I kept telling Julian in the corner how to get over the guy’s right hand, and he kept telling me ‘Yes, sir,’ ” Byrd said. “But then the round would start, and Julian couldn’t do anything with the guy.”

Also Wednesday:

--Andreas Tews of Germany registered a 9-5 upset of world champion Kirkor Kirkorov of Bulgaria, giving him a good chance to reach the medal round in the featherweight division.

--An Irish featherweight, Paul Griffin, was dropped by Zambian Steve Chungu twice in two rounds. When the bout was stopped, Griffin went into a rage.

He drop-kicked his mouthpiece into the fourth row of the seats and kicked the bottom ring rope when he left. Then he went after an AIBA official but was restrained by his coach and led away, to a torrent of boos.