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Cubans Win a Couple, Lose a Couple

ATLANTA, Aug. 3—It was time today for Cuba’s boxers to begin their gold strike. Four of the seven remaining Cubans answered the bell, but only the team’s two most famous fighters prevailed. But, oh, did they win in style.

Middleweight Ariel Hernandez and heavyweight Felix Savon repeated their Olympic gold medal victories of 1992 by overwhelming their opponents.

Cuba felt like the often-disbelieving Americans after one of its defeats, an upset suffered by veteran welterweight Juan Hernandez. The Cubans charged that his Russian foe was awarded points for phantom punches. So it goes in the chaotically inefficient Olympic boxing scoring system.

The 165-pound Ariel Hernandez beat Tur key’s Malik Beyleroglu, 11-3, while Savon almost recorded a shutout, powering past Canada’s David Defiagbon, 20-2, in the 201-pound division. Three more Cubans go for gold Sunday afternoon, as does America’s only gold-medal hope, light middleweight (156 pounds) David Reid of Philadelphia.

To the surprise of another sellout crowd of 9,175 in Alexander Memorial Coliseum, the Cubans experienced two defeats before their two victories. Russian Oleg Saitov beat Juan Hernandez, 14-9, although few could account for the punch tally on the 147-pounders.

"I thought Hernandez won the fight," said Cuban-born U.S. assistant coach Jesse Ravelo. "He wasn’t getting no points. The other guy was holding and holding and holding."

The fourth Cuban was beaten soundly; Hungary’s Istvan Kovacs doubled up Arnaldo Mesa, 14-7, in a battle of bantamweights (119 pounds).

Already assured of the most boxing medals in the Games, Cuba still can win five golds with a Sunday sweep. At worst, Cuba has clinched two golds and five silvers. The U.S. has clinched the second highest number of medals, five bronze plus either a gold or silver for Reid.

Meanwhile today, the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA), not surprisingly, rejected the Americans’ formal protest of 125-pound Floyd Mayweather’s 10-9 defeat Friday night to Bulgarian Serafim Todorov. The United States contended to no avail that the judges and referee were "intimidated" during the featherweight bout because the chief of boxing officials is a Bulgarian.

A relaxed Reid met with reporters today and expressed confidence about his upcoming match with Cuban Alfredo Duvergel. "I have to be confident," said Reid, 22, who has grown up under the guidance of U.S. Coach Al Mitchell in north Philadelphia. "I’m one of his kids he started from the very beginning, from scratch. Al is not showing it, but he’s very happy for me."

The other evening, Reid was asked how he is able to slip punches so well. Reid replied that he has sat for hours with Mitchell watching old black-and-white films of Sugar Ray Robinson. Reid put his appreciation of old masters quaintly: "I’m kind of like Al, I go back in the days."

Reid described Duvergel as "proud" and "strong." "He wants to win. I do, too. So I’m just going to have to want to win more than he does."

In some bouts, Reid has experienced trouble seeing out of his left eye, which droops because of an injury suffered just before the Olympics. For now, he’s medically cleared to fight but will require surgery after the Games. The eye stayed open, causing him no problem, during his easy 12-4 victory Friday night.

"I kind of figured I was going to make it this far," said Reid, meaning not only where he is today but also where he hopes to be Sunday. There’s certainly a bit of boxing history in his family. Reid is a cousin of Bugaloo Watts, who thrilled Philadelphians in 1976 by upsetting Marvelous Marvin Hagler before he went on to become middleweight champion.