By Cliff Rold

Three big steps forward by way of consecutive wins for Team USA turned into what may have been a tremendous step back on Friday’s night second session of Day 7 at the 2008 Beijing Games.  As was the case at the end of the round of 32, the round of 16 will close with two Americans left to go on the heels of a shocking and debatable loss.  Can they dig deep once more?  And given the draws ahead, particularly at Middleweight, is the U.S. doomed to a total Medal haul in the range of the two captured in 2004?

Is that hoping for too much at this point?

Unlike the aftermath of the hurtful loss of Rau’shee Warren in the opening round that spurred an emotional rally, a loss due in some part to a mental error on Warren’s part as he stopped fighting late in the final round, this one should just flat out make them mad.  There was a case for the victory by France’s Featherweight hopeful Khedafi Djelkhir, his face first pressure having disrupted Williams in the middle portion of the bout.  However, if clean, landed blows are supposed to the standard that at the end of four, 19-year old Raynell Williams of Cleveland, Ohio was supposed to be the winner.

Williams entered the bout with two feathers in his cap.  The first was that he had already defeated the Frenchman at the 2007 World championships.  The second was raw speed.  The former certainly didn’t help as Djelkhir came out inspired by the previous loss.  Speed remained.

Bizzare Olympic scoring reared its head right away as in the first minute Williams appeared to land, clean, at least three blows including a flush lead southpaw right to the body before falling behind 1-0 on a Djelkhir right hand.  Williams got on the board with his own lead right hook but another landed clean just seconds later and received no score ending the round tied at 1-1.

A lead left hook put Williams behind again 2-1 and a clean right hand did not extend the lead of Djelkhir.  Williams again was denied a score with a flush left, and then a clean right while a glancing Djelkhir right ended round two with Williams in the hole 4-1.  The Frenchman was doing a good job of pressuring and rushing Williams but he wasn’t out throwing or out landing him no matter what the score said.

Early in the third, Williams connected with a left.  No score.  His next two lefts did, but so did a right from Djelkhir, leaving the score at 5-3.  Two Djelkhir right hooks went unscored before another gave him a 7 points; Williams got the point back with a left and Djelkhir was denied on another clean hook upstairs.  The American needed a huge fourth down 7-4.

He almost got it.

Djelkhir wisely clinched early in the final round, then they traded points on lead hooks followed by another Djelkhir hook putting him up 9-5.  Two lead rights from Williams pasted Djelkhir with no reward but a later one did leaving the score at 9-6 with thirty seconds to go and the Frenchman running to stall.  A caution from the referee planted Djelkhir’s feet with ten seconds to go and Williams clearly landed three clean right hands and a clean, slashing left.  He got credit for only one and opponents of the modern amateur scoring system screamed “I told you so.” 
 
Round Two Grade: B+

It’s difficult to knock the performance of Williams too much even in the loss.  He could have done more and falls short of an A for not slowing his game down and landing more singularly eye-catching blows.  He also didn’t adjust fast enough to the swarming game plan of Djelkhir before a hole developed in terms of scoring.  However, when plainly landed blows get no reaction over and over, one wonders if what he did was really important. 

After the fight, his interview was subdued and he handled himself with class.  Coach Dan Campbell was conversely fired up, comparing the loss to the infamous robbery of American Roy Jones in the 1988 Light Middleweight Olympic final.

No, it was not that bad.

It still wasn’t right and Campbell was right to be fuming.

Credit must go to Djelkhir for making a good fight.  The score was no more reflective of his work after all than it was of Williams’.  Regardless, through a full eight minutes, it was unfathomable that a score could have had him landing more scoring blows than Williams.  The most that could be said of the button mashers on this night is that, at the very least, they did not award points to Djelkhir for landed blows by Williams as happened both ways in Warren’s opening round loss.  High praise indeed.

Williams’ quest for Gold concludes on a bitter note but he showed spectacular promise for the future and may well find a goldmine in the professional ranks.  Standing 5’6 in the amateur 125 lb. class, Williams could grow quickly into a promising Jr. Lightweight and Lightweight contender given the right opportunities.  Along with Warren, a native of rival Ohio hometown Cincinnati, and current professional World Middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik, the Buckeye state could well be in the midst of a major fistic renaissance. 

None of that will erase the dream deferred that was Beijing 2008, but the chance to build a healthy investment portfolio is always a great place to start a new dream.

More on Team USA and “The Quest for Gold”

Round One

Day One Results 
https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15327 
Middleweight Report Card – Shawn Estrada https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=15332

Up Next
Shawn Estrada (Middleweight); Luis Yanez (Light Flyweight)

Stay with BoxingScene for the best Olympic Boxing coverage on the World Wide Web

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com