By Jake Donovan

Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

One day after Luis Yanez’ open refusal to listen to his Olympic coaches wound up costing him a medal, reigning world amateur welterweight champion Demetrius Andrade suffered the same fate, becoming the seventh American to exit before the medal round in dropping an 11-9 heartbreaker to 2004 Olympic Bronze medalist Jung-Joo Kim of South Korea.

The last man standing on Team USA is its least experienced, as 6’7” heavyweight Deontay Wilder fought Mohamad Arjaoui of Morocco to a 10-10 tie before winning in a countback tiebreaker to become the lone American to earn a medal in the 2008 Games.

Andrade was the pre-season pick to become the most likely to man a podium at the end of the Olympics. He instead dispelled the notion that two heads are better than one, as soliciting advice from his father, seated in the stands, alternated – and perhaps conflicted – with what he was being fed in the corner.

Whatever was being fed to him didn’t help much in the opening round, as Andrade went back to his corner after two minutes down 1-0 to the Korean. The advice was as basic and blunt as it gets – use your jab, let your hands go.

Andrade hinted at absorbing it early in the second, quickly tying up the score but never landing that punch to remain in control. Kim responded nearly every time Andrade got on the board, clinging to a 4-3 lead with half the fight remaining.

A jab, straight left from the southpaw stance saw Andrade tie up the score early in the third, only for Kim to respond with a right to again go back up by one. From there, the mission was to find a way to break through Kim’s tight defense, throwing up the earmuffs whenever Andrade went on the attack. Leather was flying, but missing was his jab, which all but negated his considerable height and reach advantage.

A  right uppercut late in the third pulled Andrade within two after falling behind 8-5 midway through the most action-packed round of the fight. Still, a two-point deficit with two minutes left has proven to be the proverbial mountain to climb in this year’s Games. 

The two exchanged points early in the fourth, leaving Kim up 9-8 with 90 seconds to go. Unlike other fighters opting to do laps around the ring to preserve their lead, Kim remained within punching range. The fight was there to be taken for Andrade, but it was in this round where he most sought a second opinion, repeatedly turning to his father in the crowd.

It clearly didn’t work; Andrade once again fell behind, then landed a left hand pulled him within one before shoving Kim to the canvas. Another takedown a few seconds later only killed more clock, further diminishing Andrade’s chances of pulling out a miracle. Tick tock, the clock would count down, with the American becoming an Ameri-Can’t by night’s end.

Andrade walked around the ring with his head held down at fights end, before leaving the ring before the final verdict was announced, leading to a chorus of boos as he headed for the exit.

The action was described by ringside commentators Bob Papa and Teddy Atlas as “poor sportsmanship.” Andrade’s post-fight interview only lent further credence to the claim.

“I wasn’t feeling the vibe,” was Andrade’s response when asked why he left the ring before allowing his opponent’s hand to be raised. “They didn’t give me what I was supposed to get.”

In other words, “we wuz robbed” was all that was on his mind in reading the scoreboard.

“He fought a good fight, but some of the points I don’t know where they were coming from. A lot he was getting, they were blocked.

“I thought I won the fight.”

He didn’t. Deontay Wilder did and is now the difference between complete embarrassment and an Olympic squad that has produced the fewest medals in its amateur history.

Adding the lone remaining glimmer of hope is the fact that Wilder turned the trick after trailing early in the fight.

Arjaoui jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before Wilder finally got on the scoreboard midway through the round with a long and heavy left jab while the Moroccan was coming in. It would be the first of four unanswered points scored by the American spanning two rounds, before Araoui landed a right hand at the end of the second to pull within one point.

The third round would be the worst of the fight for Wilder, as he was outscored 4-2 to fall behind 7-6. He had two minutes to save Team USA from being completely shut out of the medal rounds.

He delivered.

Wilder landed a right hand in the corner to tie the game up at 7 with exactly 100 seconds remaining. Arjaoui responded moments later to retake the lead.

The two exchanged scoring blows with about a minute left in the fight, before Wilder and Team USA would catch a break of monumental proportions. Arjaoui was guilty of dipping his head below Wilder’s waist, which drew a warning from the referee and resulted in two points being added to the American’s tally to take a huge one point lead.

It would stick until Arjaoui tied up the fight with a haymaker of a left hook with less than 15 seconds left in the fight. Neither fighter landed another clean blow, leaving their hopes in the hands of the five judges to determine who landed the greater number of accepted blows.

 

As both stood in center ring awaiting their fate, the announcement was made. Up went the red paddle, declaring Wilder the winner. The American buried his face in his hands, releasing tears of joys in victory, while on the other side of the referee, Arjanoui dropped to his knees, devastated over what had just occurred.

Equally as surprised over the outcome was Wilder.

“I thought they’d give it to him,” admitted the 6’7” Tuscaloosa, AL native. “They were kind to us in this one, but we can’t keep it in the judges’ hands no more.”

Wilder’s comments was in defense of several team members who believed they received the short end of the stick in what judges have declared acceptable scoring blows in this year’s competition. But more than the scoring practice that has been widely criticized, it was the reaction of his teammates that lit the proverbial fire under the American’s caboose.

“(This win) came at the right time, it was a rough fight. Seeing my teammates go down – we’ve been together for a year, but I’ve never seen any of them break down and crying. When I seen them crying, it made me emotional. It all stayed with me.”

So too did the advice given to him in between rounds, which ultimately separated him from the rest of the 2008 squad.

“When my coaches told me I was down in the fourth round, I knew I had to pick it up.

“I know (the performance) wasn’t as good as my last fight, but knowing I’m the last man standing motivates me to do it for my team.”

He does it as the team’s least experienced boxer, having only fought on a competitive level three years ago. His successful run in the 2008 Olympic Trials came with just over 20 amateur fights to his name.

He can now add Olympic medalist to his resume. Wilder is now guaranteed at least a bronze medal, but has a chance to upgrade with a win in Friday’s semi-finals. However, awaiting him will be his toughest test to date, as Italy’s Clemente Russo advanced after an impressive 10-7 win over Ukraine’s Oleksander Usyk.

Russo fought for Team Italy in the 2004 Olympics, but was ousted in the early rounds of light heavyweight competition against the division’s – and Team USA’s lone – Gold medalist, Andre Ward. The Italian’s since added 22 pounds (10 Kg) to his fighting frame, which has produced far greater results.

Russian heavyweight Rakhim Chakhkeiv had already faced five of the other seven heavyweight quarterfinalists prior to the 2008 Games. One of the five was France’s John M’Bumba, whom Chakhkeiv defeated at last year’s World Amateur Championships. He turned the trick again, turning a close fight through three rounds into a rout, posting an 8-point, two-knockdown fourth round to take an 18-9 victory over the Frenchman.

With the win, Chakhkiev secures at least a bronze medal. He advances to the semi-finals against yet another opponent over whom he owns scoreboard – Cuba’s Osmay Acosta, who eliminated Elias Pavlidis of Greece by a score of 7-4.

Pavliidis was the last medal hope for a Greece team that only boasted two boxers. That’s one more than the Bahamas squad, as welterweight Tureano Johnson’s tour as a one man wrecking crew has come to an end after being eliminated by China’s Hanati Silamu, 14-4.

Siliamu becomes the first member of the home team to qualify for a medal. Five more members of Team China remain in the hunt for hardware, but for the moment are guaranteed at least one bronze. Silamu’s chances of silver or gold appear thin, as he next faces Carlos Banteaux of a Cuban squad that went three for three on the afternoon.

The bottom half of the welterweight quarterfinal bracket featured more competitive action. Coupling Jung-Joo Kim’s aforementioned squeaker over Andrade was Kazakhstan’s Bakhyt Sarsekbayev taking a 12-7 verdict over Dilshod Mahmudov of Uzbekistan. Sarsekbayev owns a win over Silamu, but the two have daunting tasks in the semis in any hopes of a rematch.

The light welterweight has two tasty bouts in its semi-final bracket, including the returning 2004 Gold medalist Manus Boomjumnong of Thailand. He is now two wins away from repeating after turning back the challenge of Kazakhstan’s Serik Sapiyev with a 7-5 win.

Awaiting him in the medal round is one of three Cuban fighters to advance on the day, as first time Olympian Roniel Iglesias pulled off a minor upset over Gennady Kovalev of Russia. Kovalev made it to the quarterfinals before falling out of the 2004 Games and leaves in similar fashion after dropping a 5-2 verdict to the Cuban.

Less competitive were the bottom half brackets, as Manuel Felix Diaz of Dominican Republic and France’s Alexis Vastine turned in dominating performance to advance to the medal round.

Diaz becomes the lone Dominican to medal after a convincing 11-6 win over Morteza Sepahvand, who was reduced to tears in failing to become the first Iranian boxer to medal.

One round after avenging his defeat to Bradley Saunders at the 2007 World Amateur Championships, Vastine now faces Diaz in the light welterweight semifinals after blasting past Monkh-Erdene Uranchimeglin of Mongolia by a 12-4 margin.

Falling behind on your Olympic boxing intake? Catch up by clicking on the following link for the complete archive of Boxingscene.com’s unmatched Olympic coverage:

BOXINGSCENE.COM 2008 OLYMPIC BOXING CATALOG

Jake Donovan is a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.