Two Top U.S. Fighters Taken Out by Rulings

Reversing itself for the second time in three days by forming a second grievance committee to overrule the first, USA Boxing officials disqualified 152-pounder Andre Berto from the U.S. Olympic Boxing Trials on Thursday for a flagrant foul that injured his opponent.

Officials also again declined to reinstate that opponent, Juan McPherson, on medical grounds, knocking arguably the two best fighters on the U.S. squad out of contention for this year’s Olympic Games in Athens.

Representatives of both fighters have vowed to bring legal action against USA Boxing.

And that still might not end it. The board of directors of USA Boxing met late Thursday night to go over the issues again.

“I love Juan McPherson and Andre Berto, and I would love to see those guys still in the [trials],” said Eric Parthen, executive director of USA Boxing. “But at the end of the day, I support the decision of the committee.”

Said Dieuseul Berto, Andre’s father, “We will file for an injunction to stop this tournament. I am on a mission. I will fight USA Boxing all the way through, whatever I have to do to support my son. He trained 12 years for this?

“We will file a lawsuit, but no amount of money can fill the hole in my heart right now. USA Boxing does not have a conscience.”

Andre Berto was originally disqualified by referee Dennis O’Connell when he threw McPherson to the canvas in their opening-round match Tuesday at the Tunica Arena and Exposition Center, sending McPherson to the hospital with a head injury. The incident occurred with Berto leading, 10-8, with 27 seconds remaining in the fourth and final round.

While McPherson was being examined at Tunica Regional Medical Center, a five-man committee -- consisting of an official, a coach, an athlete, a team manager and an administrator -- reinstated Berto and declared him the winner. After viewing videotape of the controversial finish, the committee ruled O’Connell had overreacted in assessing the severity of the foul and that McPherson, because he was physically unable to continue, should be deemed the loser.

On Wednesday, McPherson arrived at the arena with a medical report from the hospital that he said cleared him to fight. A trio of USA Boxing doctors ruled otherwise, saying McPherson would not be allowed back into the ring because he had suffered a head injury.

McPherson also protested the committee’s action on the grounds that, by his absence, he had been denied due process.

USA Boxing officials huddled through Wednesday, met in the afternoon between the two boxing sessions and then again well into the night at a nearby hotel.

Meanwhile, Berto was allowed to continue in the tournament Wednesday while deliberations went on. He fought and won a close, tough match over Vanes Martirosyan.

But then Thursday, Berto learned he need not have bothered. USA Boxing officials, it’s not clear which ones, remembered a new rule that mandates that grievance committees dealing with referees should consist of only three members.

“Old habits,” said Parthen in explaining how the wrong committee was convened.

Enter a new committee with all new faces: an administrator, an official and an athlete.

It reached its verdict Thursday afternoon, which it explained with this statement: “The new committee determined that, according to the evidence presented, the judgment that the referee used in disqualifying Berto did not clearly violate the rules of USA Boxing.”

McPherson’s coach, Al Jones, said he would take legal action today.

McPherson had already qualified for a spot in the 2004 Games by winning a silver medal at last summer’s Pan Am Games. But, under USA Boxing rules, he had to then come to the trials and win a spot on the U.S. team.

So McPherson had to endure the additional disappointment of seeing the slot that he had already qualified for taken away without a fight.

Martirosyan was moved up to the winners’ bracket to take Berto’s place and Austin Trout was moved into the losers’ bracket in the double-elimination event.

“I can’t cry any more tears,” Berto said at Thursday’s evening session. “If they don’t want me here, I’d rather forget the whole thing.”

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Oscar De La Hoya, scheduled to fight Bernard Hopkins for the undisputed middleweight championship on Sept. 18 if both men win preliminary fights on June 5, has decided to bow out of a broadcast assignment at the Olympics because it would conflict with his training schedule.