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Friday, September 29
Ricardo Williams came to Sydney with something to prove
Reuters
SYDNEY, Australia -- When Ricardo Williams pored
over the Sports Illustrated guide to the Sydney Olympics, he
was stung to discover that he did not rate as a tip for a
medal.
|  | | USA's Ricardo Williams, top, battles Cuba's Diogenes Luna Martinez during their 63.5kg semifinal bout. Williams came from behind to win the bout by one point. |
Now, the 19-year-old boxer from Cincinnati, Ohio, is
thanking his stars for that.
"That helped me even more," said Williams after punching
his way to Sunday's light-welterweight final in the most
thrilling boxing contest so far of the Sydney Games.
"It made me think that I had something to prove."
Williams, trailing Diogenes Luna of Cuba 19 points to 25
after the second round of their semifinal Friday, was 35-33 up
by the end of the third and triumphed 42-41 in the highest-scoring contest of the tournament.
The turning point for the part-time cook came midway
through round three when Luna landed a punch on him after the
referee had ordered them to break.
"It kind of made me mad. I went out there and I hit him...I
got right on him," Williams said.
"I just thought to myself 'It's going to be a long night'
and from then on it was a toe-to-toe bout."
A furious fourth round saw the boxers trading blows so fast
that it seemed impossible for their coaches to keep track of
who was ahead.
"The way I was moving round the ring...I think I could have
beaten Michael Johnson in the 400 meters," Williams said.
Gold medal round
Williams was one of only two boxers from the much-heralded
U.S. team to make it to the gold medal round.
Both are called Ricardo, prompting some U.S. reporters to
ask head coach Tom Mustin whether he should have brought more
Ricardos with him.
"I'm just ecstatic that we had two, the way things went in
the middle of the week," said Mustin, hoping not to go home as
the first U.S. coach since 1948 not to harvest a single Olympic
boxing gold.
The other Ricardo, better known as featherweight world
champion "Rocky" Juarez, had a far easier ride through his
semifinal against Kamil Dzamalutdinov and will face Kazakh
boxer Bekzat Sattarkhanov in the final.
Williams' opponent will be Mahamadkadyz Abdullaev of
Uzebkistan, who beat him in their second round bout of the 1999
amateur world championships in Houston, Texas.
"I think about it as do or die," Williams said of the task
that awaits him.
"He beat me. Now I want to beat him that much more. It's
going to be a long night and if I have to fight as hard as I
did tonight, I will."
Williams is trained by his father, Ricardo Senior, and
boxes with a photograph of his 7-month-old son, Ricardo the
third, on his shoes.
"I'm taking the punches now, so he won't have to take
punches later on," Williams said of the child he has hardly
seen since starting Olympic training program six months ago.
Williams came to the Olympics little noticed in a U.S.
squad that was on a high after beating Cuba to win the team
title at last year's world championships.
He took six months off after his disappointing loss at that
tournament and says he has come back with a discipline and
determination that he lacked before.
"I knew I had it in me," he said after his victory. "That's
what got me here and I'm just glad I could go out there and
show it."
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