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Sunday, September 24
Navarro becomes 6th U.S. boxer to advance
Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia -- Jose Navarro boxed his way into the
Olympic flyweight quarterfinals, and this time his father saw it.
|  | | Jose Navarro, right, connects with Morocco's Hicham Mesbahi. |
With his father and older brother Carlos Jr. cheering him on,
the 19-year-old Navarro scored half of his 12 points in the fourth
round for a 12-9 decision over Hicham Mesbahi of Morocco at 112
pounds Sunday.
Ricardo Williams also won, stopping Olusegon Ajose of Nigeria on
the 15-point rule (21-6) in the fourth round at 139 pounds to give
the United States seven boxers in the quarterfinals. So far eight
Cubans have reached the quarters.
A fifth American was eliminated when Army Sgt. Olanda
Anderson, who drew a first-round bye, was beaten 13-12 at 178
pounds when Rudolf Kraj of Czech Republic landed a scoring blow
with three seconds left.
When the decision was announced in favor of Navarro, Mesbahi
threw up his hands, fell to his knees and pounded the canvas. There
were boos.
Navarro's father had missed his son's opening-round win because
he missed a plane in Los Angeles.
Dad almost saw his son eliminated.
After building a 5-2 lead in the second round, Navarro had
trouble solving Mesbahi's defense and he trailed 7-6 after three
rounds.
After the third round, Navarro said he looked at his father and
"My dad put his hands up and said in Spanish, `This is it."'
Navarro became the sixth U.S. boxer to advance to the
quarterfinals. He will box Jerome Thomas of France Wednesday
afternoon.
"I knew I was behind by one point in the last round and I had
no choice but to go out there and just throw," Navarro said. "I
knew I had to step it up a lot. It's just and experience for me.
I'm going to learn a lot from this fight, as I do from every
fight."
The 19-year-old Williams, boxing with a picture of his
7-month-old son taped to his left boxing boot, stopped Olusegun
Ajose of Nigeria on the 15-point rule (21-6) at 139 pounds. It was
the second 15-point-rule victory for Williams.
In the 139-pound bout, Ajose drew applause when he did a little
showboating, but it was Williams who had the fun.
"You're supposed to have fun -- it's a sport," Williams said.
Ajose got the crowd on his side in the fourth round when he
scored three points to cut Williams' lead to 16-6. The left-handed
Williams then unleashed five scoring blows to the head and ended the
fight with 40 seconds left.
"It gets more exciting as it goes on," said Williams, who will
box Alexandre Leonov of Russia on Wednesday afternoon.
The 27-year-old Anderson, a replacement for world champion
Michael Simms Jr., who was dismissed from the team for disciplinary
reasons, was tied after each of the first three rounds (1-1, 4-4,
7-7).
Kraj took a 9-7 lead early in the fourth round and led 12-10
with a little less than 30 seconds left. Anderson then battled back
to tie the score, only to have Kraj land the winning blow just
before the bell.
"I didn't come to lose in the second round," said Anderson,
who hails from Sumter, S.C., and is stationed at Fort Carson, Colo.
"I'm much better than that."
Two of three Americans who boxed Saturday night advanced.
Rocky Juarez, the 125-pound world champion from Houston,
outpointed Falk Huste of Germany 17-15 and set up a quarterfinal
showdown on Wednesday against Somluck Kamsing of Thailand, the
gold medalist at the 1996 Olympics. Kamsing beat Tulkunbay
Turgunov of Ubekistan 6-2.
Jermain Taylor of Little Rock, Ark., pounded out a 23-9 decision
over Scott McIntosh of Canada at 156 pounds.
Then super heavyweight Calvin Brock of Charlotte, N.C., became
the fourth U.S. boxer to lose. He took a standing count, then was
knocked down and stopped in the fourth round on the 15-point rule
(21-5) by Paolo Vidoz of Italy, a bronze medalist at the 1999 world
championships.
The 20-year-old Juarez, who beat Huste 12-6 in the quarterfinals
at the world championships last year in Houston, clinched his
victory this time with a scoring blow late in the fourth round for
a 17-14 lead.
Four times during the fast-paced four rounds Juarez led by three
points, but never for very long. Each boxer got a couple of points
for body blows. In some bouts judges have ignored punches to body.
The 22-year-old Taylor clinched his match against McIntosh by
outscoring the Canadian 11-3 in the third round. He will box Adnan
Catic of Germany in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Brock was simply outclassed in the last two rounds. After a 2-2
first round, Brock fell behind 6-3 after two rounds. Then he took a
battering in the third round when he took a standing 8-count and he
was knocked down with a body punch in the fourth. The fight was
stopped in the closing seconds.
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