"Below the Belt": A New Hardcore Boxing Blog by Randy Campbell

By Randy Campbell

 

Well, that's it. Once again another Olympic Games has come and gone, and probably not a moment too soon for those of us who have been depriving our bodies of anything close to a good night's sleep over the last couple of weeks. For this guy thankfully there will be no more staying up until two or three o'clock in the morning just to watch what has always been my favourite sport at the Games to see who is going to move on into the round of sixteen in the boxing competitions. No more making a pot of coffee at ten o'clock in the evening just so I'm ready to see if some Irish fighter, who happened to catch my eye in an earlier bout, could advance through over the Turkish fighter that I know absolutely nothing about. And possibly the best of it all, there will be no more hearing or reading repeated comments from the fans and media alike about how awful Olympic boxing supposedly is, which is what this little writeup will focus on...From my point of view, what people were generally saying about this the 2008 installment of Olympic boxing.

 

 

I thought I'd start off on a positive note and give a great big hand to Vasyl Lomachenko of the Ukraine, who impressed the hell out of me like no other during these Games. What a friggin' wonderful talent this kid showed himself to be over the last couple of weeks in easily taking the gold medal in the featherweight class. Truly a superb amateur boxer with some fantastic upperbody and head movement, shifty feet with great balance, a high and tight guard, and some pretty fast and very accurate hands, which he wasn't shy about throwing at mid and short range with his excellant hooks and uppercuts. A better choice for the Val Barker trophy as the outstanding boxer has probably not been seen in quite some time in Olympic boxing, in my opinion, as this kid stole the show for the most part this time around. I'd also give Lomachenko and Albert Selimov (the reigning amateur world champion for featherweights) the honour of putting on the best bout of the competitions, as well, as those two enganged in a thrilling contest full of skill, action, and with the added bonus of some bad blood between the two. Unfortunately, though, the luck of the draw had them face off in the opening round of the tournament when, as the numer one and two boxers coming in, they really should have been meeting in a bout to determine the gold medal for their weight class. They both showed the talent and ability that any gold medal bout would have been proud to have showcased in, that's for sure.

 

On a related note and despite the fact that he knocked off our lone Canadian representative, Adam Trupish, Bakhyt Sarsekbayev (KAZ) was also truly impressive in taking the gold in the welterweight class, and I'd probably give him the runner-up or the silver medal spot as far as the most outstanding boxer goes. Enkhbatyn (MGL) and Cammarelle (ITA) also impressed my eyes a bunch in taking gold in their weight classes, which were bantamweight and super heavyweight respectively.

 

 

Now the not-so good stuff people are saying about the boxing at these Olympics, and one of the most frequent comments were the patriotic cries of some, as well as the general comments of others, stating that the wrong guys were getting the short end of the stick as far as decisions went in a number of bouts. All I can say to that is maybe there were a few decisions that were a little bit questionable from what I saw (and to be fair, I didn't see every bout that was judged a "robbery" by the fans), but I have to be honest and say that I didn't see any decisions that were really horrible this time out from what I was viewing. Sure, I thought the Russian light heavyweight, Artur Beterbiev, outscored and got the better of the eventual gold medalist for that class, Zhang of China, in a bout earlier in the tournament, but I also didn't see that as anything but a reasonably close bout despite my thinking on who should've been adjudged the winner. Kenny Egan of Ireland was also supposed to have been "robbed" in the gold medal bout at light heavyweight against that same boxer from China (Zhang), but again I didn't see it that way, as I thought the bout was about as even as it gets as far as a four round contest goes. It went to the fighter from the host country and so be it, as that's not at all an uncommon theme at all as far as how close fights have been judged throughout Olympic boxing history (or professional boxing, for that matter). Cries of "robbery" also rang out after Demetrius Andrade's welterweight bout against his Korean opponent earlier in the tournament, as well, but that is one that I actually thought was judged the right way. According to the amateur scoring in boxing, it's simply whoever lands the most scoring blows who is adjudged the winner, and while I saw Andrade throw more than did his opponent, I also viewed the Korean welterweight blocking most of those with his tight guard, and then coming back with good scoring counters of his own to take a slight overall edge in the bout. No "robbery" there according to my eyes and my way of thinking.

 

While the amateur scoring system we have had for going on 20 years* now leaves much to be desired because we so often see scoring blows not counted by the judges, or by appearance, counted when they shouldn't have been, I generally didn't have too much of a problem with whose hand was being raised at the end of the bouts. Whether the same bout was scored 15-5 or 12-7 didn't matter much to me, because the only thing I was looking for as the 'bottom line' was that the rightful winner was being judged as that, and for the most part (est. close to 95% of the time from the bouts I saw), I thought the righful winner ended up having his hand raised at the end.

 

While they could have counted more or less depending on what perspective one takes, I thought the judging of strictly the winners on an overall basis was just fine when compared to other Olympics. The in-ring officiating, though? That's an entirely different story of it's own, and the less said about fights involving Clemente Russo (ITA) the better, as it is with the ridiculous display of "boxing" and officiating that we unfortunately saw in the middleweight gold medal matchup.

 

 

Lots of comments like this making the rounds by North Amercian boxing fans (and some media), and while I don't know why exactly, I found that these remarks bugged me more than anything about the boxing this time out. Maybe it's because they sound so goddamn hypocritical to me, because I've not yet saw an Olympic boxing competition that wasn't filled with it's share of controversy.

 

Montreal in 1976 anyone? In addition to some lesser controversies that possibly saw the wrong guy get the win, the Forum also saw what is probably one of the worst decisions ever seen in Olympic boxing throughout it's long history, or at least in the more modern times...Jochen Bachfeld's "win" over Pedro Gamarro in the gold medal bout for the welterweight class, which is a decision that very nearly caused a riot in the Forum when it was given out, as fans booed continuously for about 15 minutes straight in addition to pelting the ring with garbage and whatever else they could get their hands on. It was a truly horrible decision and the scene that took place on that day illustrates that I'm not the only one who thought so. 

 

Or Los Angeles in 1984 anyone? I hate to say it, but I don't believe a host nation has ever benefitted as much as did the Amercian boxers during those Games, at least in my time as a boxing fan. They were awarded nine gold medals in boxing, but did they truly "win" nine gold medals? Well, those who viewed the Henry Tillman-Angelo Musone and the overturning of the original decision given to Musone would tell you not. Tillman was literally a hometown fighter with him being from L.A., but that didn't stop the Sports Arena from booing the hell out of the decision "gifted" to him. Or, not including a few somewhat lesser controversies the U.S. boxers received (e.g. Tate over Ayed, Biggs over Damiani, or to add the "North" to "American", O'Sullivan over Tiozzo), what about the horrible verdict Jerry Page recieved over Kim Dong Kil of South Korea, which was also booed quite loudly by the patriotic fans at the boxing venue, as well as a decision that basically gave the Koreans reason to "return the favour" sort to speak at the next Olympics in Seoul? It's a long story better left for another time, but I'm fairly confident that had Page not gotten that "gift" awarded to him, Roy Jones doesn't get screwed over at the next Games in '88.

 

This stuff hasn't only happened in Seoul or in China, as controversy has surrounding the boxing competitions basically since the dawn of the modern Olympics. Including, yes, some highly controversial decisions that have taken place on our own continent and in our own countries here in North America. 

 

Alrighty, I've gone on plenty long enough with my rant here, and if you're still reading this, thank you for doing so because you're probably a better person than I to be doing so. But before I end this, I'd like to offer up one more small statement, and the following one here, well, this is entirely my own and based entirely on what I feel right now. This is also coming from the bottom of my heart;

 

"Thank God It's Over!"

 

Take care, and keep punching everyone,

 

Sharkey

 

 

 

*Note - Lots of boxing fans and media nowadays like to say that the scoring system was changed due to Roy Jones' highly controversial fight in Seoul, and while it's certainly understandable as to why they think that due to the new system not being in use until after that fight took place, the timeline certainly doesn't agree with those thoughts that it was changed because of what happened to him. I offer this quote of an announcement;

 

"At our world championships in Moscow, in September, 1989, we will introduce electronic scoring. Each judge will have two buttons in front of him, each representing a boxer. For each scoring blow a judge will push a button and that punch will be shown on the scoreboard next to the judge's number. For the first time in boxing the public will see blow-by-blow scoring." - statement made by then AIBA president, Anwar Chowdhry, on Sept 27th, 1988, and printed in varios sources the next day, with this quote being taken directly from the L.A. Times, Sept 28th, 1988

 

Roy Jones' fight against Park Si Hun wasn't until a few days later on the evening of Oct 1st, 1988, which occured after the announcement had already been made by Chowdhry.

 

The thought process and planning behind the current system we see now likely began when the previous AIBA president to Chowdhry, Colonel Don Hull, announced in mid August of 1984 (after the controversy and complaints surrounding the boxing at the '84 Olympics) that his "next project" would be to "find a way, with lights or something else, to show scores after each round, so that people will realize who's ahead". It appears it went from there.