Bad Left Hook - Boxing History: 30th Anniversary of 'A Night of Gold' Part OneGlobal Boxing News and Commentaryhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47131/backingthepack-fave.png2014-11-15T07:22:16-05:00http://www.badlefthook.com/rss/stream/69889442014-11-15T07:22:16-05:002014-11-15T07:22:16-05:0030th Anniversary of 'A Night of Gold' Part Two
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<p>The 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles saw a record Gold medal haul for the U.S boxing team. On a November evening, 30 years ago, five gold medalists, one silver and one bronze, all turned pro on the same card. In the second and final part of this retrospective, Kyle McLachlan takes a look at this important night and the fallout from it.</p> <p>In part one of this look back at 'A Night of Gold' we took a look at arguably the greatest ever Olympic team assembled, and whether or not they would have prospered as much had the Cubans and Soviets not boycotted the games.</p>
<p>For most fans, they didn't care whether or not the Americans were really <i>that </i>good. They wanted to see them in the pro ranks.</p>
<p>And how many fans there were. ABC estimated that up to 180 million people had watched the Olympics. Of course, not all of these would have been boxing fans, but it would have been a wide enough spread that some of these fighters were already household names.</p>
<p>The spotlight was on them.</p>
<p>On November 15th, 1984, Dan Duva's 'Main Events' gave millions of viewers a chance to see some of the very best of that talented gang turn pro on the same night.</p>
<p><b>The Build-Up</b></p>
<p>On a Saturday night, thirty years ago today, at Madison Square Garden, the home for hundreds of boxing classics, a capacity crowd of twenty one thousand were in attendance to see the Olympic medalists turn pro.</p>
<p>Impressive you may think, that these fighters were already ticket sellers.</p>
<p>In fact, Mark Breland's star was so big at this point, that he was able to influence how the show was run.</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>The giveaway was the idea of Breland, who grew up in Brooklyn's Bedford Stuyvesant section.
<p> </p>
<p>"After all the years I've been fighting at Madison Square Garden I felt I owed the fans something", said Breland, who won five New York Golden Gloves titles in the garden.</p>
<p>To obtain tickets, written requests had to be made to the New York Daily News. There was a limit of four tickets per request.</p>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>A kind gesture that guaranteed goodwill by the audience and an atmosphere befitting a title fight, of which MSG hosted many.</p>
<p>Not that 'A Night of Gold' wasn't highly anticipated anyway.</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>Promoter Dan Duva said that in the past he has been bothered by people requesting free tickets, but that this time people have asked to buy tickets.</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>The opponents for the fighters with such accomplished amateur careers would be hit-and-miss.</p>
<p>Calling them journeymen would be a tad harsh, although that term has only become derogatory in recent years. They were more along the lines of club fighters. They were coming to win, but had only performed at a low level before in front of small crowds, and most had losses littering their records.</p>
<p>Lou Duva, father of promoter Dan who along with defensive genius George Benton had taken most of the fighters under his tutelage for their early pro careers, felt the opponent selection was just.</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>"How can anybody knock the opponents? I'm giving Mark Breland a guy (Dwight Williams of Syracuse, N.Y.) with a style that comes at you. If I gave him someone who runs, it wouldn't be an exciting fight."</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>With their extensive unpaid experience, and the fact this card was being broadcast to millions on ABC, decent opposition was a necessity.</p>
<p>These amateurs weren't being paid peanuts either.</p>
<p>Mark Breland was earning the most, $100,000 (the equivalent of $229,000 today) while the youngest, Meldrick Taylor, was pocketing a pretty $50,000 ($114,550 today). That's not chump change for an eighteen year old.</p>
<p>Pernell Whitaker, Evander Holyfield and Tyrell Biggs were all getting $75,000 ($171,000 today), which is telling when you consider that Holyfield didn't get a chance to set the same gold standard as his teammates.</p>
<p>Lagging behind was the forgotten man of the 1984 team, who was also the first man to debut. The silver medalist in the middleweight division from North Dakota didn't have his bout televised. From what I can tell, it wasn't even worth the price of videotape.</p>
<p><b>Virgil Hill TKO2 Arthur Wright </b></p>
<p>As I touched on in part one, Virgil Hill would've been better off being robbed of a chance to win a silver. Evander Holyfield gained more notoriety winning bronze than Hill did for going one better.</p>
<p>Hill was very much the black sheep of the team, even though he had made a major accomplishment in winning second prize.</p>
<p>The <i>New York Times </i>reported:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>Hill could not have been more out of place than he was yesterday morning at the weigh-ins. He was seated on the stage of the Felt Forum on the far right of the line of the Olympians making their debuts here. But the other five fighters were wearing gold and orange sweatsuits emblazoned with ''Night of Gold.'' Hill was in simple blue sweats.</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>In stark contrast to his teammates, Hill would pick up only $10,000 (or $7,500 depending on the source) and a one-fight deal with 'Main Events'. He didn't receive the private training at Catskills with Lou Duva and George Benton that the others did. He didn't even have a manager.</p>
<p>Their was also far less thought put into his opponent. Hill was scheduled to box Pedro Monteiro, who was on a six-fight losing streak. A few days earlier, Monteiro failed his physical examination.</p>
<p>Arthur Wright stepped in on short notice to take the bout, the only scheduled four round fight of the night.</p>
<p>Any budding historian will know that Boxrec, which is a useful tool, often doesn't tell the whole story. However, in this particular era, there tends to be a lot more information available for fighters.</p>
<p>Wright, who is not well known to even those who pay attention to minutest of details, didn't even have a pro bout listed before he fought Hill. He mixed in decent enough company afterwards to make me assume he wasn't some geek off the street (The <i>New York Times </i>listed him as 2-1 going into the bout) but it didn't matter anyway, as Hill fought with little fanfare.</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>Before ABC went on the air and even before most of the crowd had taken their seats at Madison Square Garden, Hill opened the show with a knockout at 2:05 of the second round of a scheduled four-rounder against Arthur Wright of Brooklyn.</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Wright apparently made of fight of it before he went down, clipping Hill with a left hook. This only spurned the silver medalist on, and he opened Wright up with a left hook to the midsection, doubled it up to the chin and sent Wright into dreamland.</p>
<p>Hill did not have his chance to wow a national audience and put the memory of his Olympic defeat firmly out of sight and mind. But since his showing in Los Angeles, he had become somewhat of a local hero.</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>Hill, a 20-year-old fighter from Grand Forks and Williston, N.D., who waved his state flag in the ring during the Los Angeles Games, said that since winning his Olympic medal he had received mail ''from places in North Dakota I never knew existed.''</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Still, Hill knew what he had missed out on. He said, in a way that can only be read in a forlorn way:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>''Losing the final,'' he said with magnificent understatement, ''might possibly have cost me a great deal of money.''</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>A tough break for Hill, but he would have his chance to make his mark, as we'll see later.</p>
<p>The next fighter up wasn't nationally televised but his bout was filmed, which meant it could be shown on sports shows in the following weeks, which in the YouTube era we live in might be difficult to understand but was a common occurrence at the time.</p>
<p>The youngest, was also the most destructive.</p>
<p><b>Meldrick Taylor TKO1 Luke Lecce</b></p>
<p>Meldrick Taylor may have had to reign in his style in the amateurs. The sport valued and rewarded clean shots with the white portion of the glove to the midsection and face only, but Taylor was the flashy type who could uncork a tornado-like combination in the same time it took normal fighters to throw one-two's.</p>
<p>Taylor knew he was made for the professional ranks as well. Speaking to <i>Sports Illustrated</i>:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>"I believe I'm an excellent finisher, like Ray Leonard. I liked Ray Robinson, too, but I don't want to go too far back for my idols because I wasn't born when Robinson was fighting." Of the current champions, he said, "They don't have the exciting style of, say, me."</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>His opponent was Luke Lecce, who sported an 11-2-1 record. Although the eighteen-year old Taylor was facing someone on a two-fight losing streak, Lecce was no easy out. He'd gone nine rounds with Charlie Brown, who went on to challenge for a world title at lightweight.</p>
<p>He figured to give Meldrick Taylor some rounds, so it was mightily impressive when Taylor wasted him inside the first stanza.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/NLmSTMwggxk" height="315" width="420"></iframe></p>
<p>As would become a regular experience for Meldrick Taylor's opponents over the coming years, Lecce could not handle the young Philly boxers handspeed.</p>
<p>In fact, Taylor was so fast that he made Lecce rethink his profession:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>Lecce, who holds a degree in political science from Duquesne and who works as a 7-Up salesman, retired from boxing after the bout, saying: "When you find out the other guy's hands are 10 times faster than yours, it scares you."</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>The next fighter on the bill, and the first on the televised portion of the card, found himself with a much tougher opponent.</p>
<p>Not surprising seeing as some thought he was the best prospect of the bunch.</p>
<p><b>Evander Holyfield UD6 Lionel Byarm</b></p>
<p>In 1984, not many broadcasters had as much experience calling fights as veteran commentator Chris Schenkel.</p>
<p>So it shouldn't be taken with a pinch of salt that he was so glowing in his appraisal of Holyfield:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>"The man we're going to show in the first bout is the best prospect in my opinion."</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>With the benefit of hindsight, Pernell Whitaker's answer to the <i>New York Times'</i> question of who would be the best professional other than himself, was bang on the chin:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>''Evander's a strong, hard puncher, a good hitter,'' Pernell Whitaker said. ''He's a hit-me-and-I'll-hit-you- back fighter.''</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Lionel Byarm was more than happy to accommodate him.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/fb4Wn78CIuc" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>For a debut, this was a highly competitive fight, and not because Holyfield wasn't seasoned. Byarm came to fight, as you'd expect for a good pro from Philadelphia, known for producing hard nuts.</p>
<p>Both men weighed a tad over the light heavyweight limit at 177 and one half pounds.</p>
<p>They went at it, mainly in close, for the entirety of six rounds. Holyfield won the unanimous decision 5-1, 6-0 and 4-2, showing that the judges felt Byarm had given a good account of himself.</p>
<p>Holyfield was happy with his performance, as quoted by the <i>Associated Press</i>:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>"I feel I won every round", said Holyfield, who also added after fighting more than three rounds for the first time: "I'm winded but I feel good."</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Whitaker, who had picked Holyfield as his top pick, didn't have time to get winded. He couldn't be accused of setting a slow pace either.</p>
<p><b>Pernell Whitaker TKO2 Farrain Comeaux</b></p>
<p>Of all the fighters that received one-to-ones with George Benton, perhaps Whitaker was the best suited to him.</p>
<p>Benton, one of the slickest fighters of the super slick sixties middleweight contenders, had fought innumerable ranked contenders, and a few former and future world champions.</p>
<p>A defensive expert as adept on the inside as he was on the outside, Benton was the perfect fighter to mould Whitaker, arguably the best amateur in the world, into an even better professional.</p>
<p>Years later, Benton told the <i>Daily Press</i>:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>"When I first got Whitaker, he was smart enough to know that he didn't know everything about boxing."</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>There wasn't much that 'Sweet Pea' didn't know, although he recognised the importance of Benton's tutelage:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>"George is a legend and I found it easy to listen to him from the very beginning," Whitaker said. "I get so much understanding from George, and he never gives up on me when things aren't going well.
<p> </p>
<p>"He's very serious about boxing, and he never takes anything for granted. I can come across him in a hotel, or even in the street, and he will stop me and make me go over the game plan.</p>
<p>"George has made me a student. I was a good listener when I was in school, but George has made me want to know everything there is to know about boxing. I want to know every angle and what to do at every moment."</p>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Poor Farrain Comeux, of Nederland, Texas, was the first of many to find out just how brilliant Pernell Whitaker could be as a professional. Either 10 or 11 bouts undefeated, he found himself facing not just a steep jump in the quality of his opposition, but with an otherworldly talent.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/O7F6Hk2v4kw" height="315" width="420"></iframe></p>
<p>A incredible display from Whitaker, in what would be a common sight in years to come even as he stepped up in competition.</p>
<p><i>Sports Illustrated's </i>Jaime Diaz summed up Whitaker's performance perfectly, with a nod to an early form of Compubox that would have had it's widest disparities this side of Floyd Mayweather when analysing the Norfolk mans fights:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>Whitaker, nicknamed Sweet Pea, fought like a spinach-emboldened Pop-eye against Comeaux. According to an experimental computer used to count punches at ringside, in five minutes, 50 seconds of fighting Whitaker threw 124 punches and landed 94, 78 of them clean shots to the head. Meanwhile, poor Comeaux landed only 10 of the 81 blows he launched against the slippery Whitaker, and none of them did any damage.</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Evander Holyfield, seemingly unaware of Whitaker choosing him as the best shout for professional success, gave a succinct breakdown of his teammate when choosing <i>him </i>as the best prospect:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>''I think Pernell will be the best. His finesse, his ability and the way he thinks. He's a sneaky guy, in a nice way, and he boxes sneaky. He'll throw his arm out, and if you flinch, he probably won't throw a punch. But if you don't flinch, he might pop you.''</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Watching his debut, and even allowing for the low quality of opposition on offer, it's a scary thought that Whitaker would get that much better than this. A chance to see an all-time great in action early on in his career is not to be overlooked, and millions of fans got to see Whitaker announce himself as a prospect to take serious note of.</p>
<p>The main support act of the night was the super heavyweight Olympic champion who had to battle the boo boys throughout his amateur career.</p>
<p><b>Tyrell Biggs UD6 Mike Evans</b></p>
<p>Biggs faced off with Mike Evans, a former college wrestler who had some degree of fame himself, having appeared in a Bud-Light commercial.</p>
<p>Biggs, wisely, didn't predict a knockout, but he did predict he would <i>'get respect' </i>from Evans for his punching power.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/T_bsXnHYutM?list=UUdZ2eufZ7P4gr1SlpuuACmQ" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Seeing as Evans sported a bog-standard 2-1-1 record and has been starched previously by a debutant, this could have been seen as a major disappointment for Biggs, who was hopeful of making a statement after being criticised even when winning a gold medal!</p>
<p>However, the <i>Associated Press </i>report didn't find much fault with Biggs. It laid the blame squarely with Evans:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>Heavyweight Tyrell Biggs of Philadelphia, heard the same boos he had heard on route to Olympic gold in Los Angeles, when he failed to score a knockout. He failed to score one this time too, going the full six rounds with a unanimous decision with Mike Evans of Los Angeles. But it was hardly Biggs' fault.
<p> </p>
<p>"Don't blame me", he said.</p>
<p>No one did. Evans never really boxed. He rarely threw a punch - A far cry from his role as the champ in a beer commercial.</p>
<p>"It takes two to fight", said Biggs. "I tried to get the guy to commit himself so I could do something I trained for. If they get someone in there who fights then the best of me will come out."</p>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Watching the fight back, Biggs does deserve some criticism. Indeed, Evans, who wasn't gung-ho it has to be said, did land with wide hooks on occasion. And Biggs couldn't <i>create </i>n opening to land a stiff blow, something you'd expect the far more experienced fighter to do at this level.</p>
<p>Still, <i>Sports Illustrated </i>saw the bout as a good learning experience for Biggs:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>Tyrell Biggs, passive at the Games, provided a glimpse, however slight, of the more aggressive fighter he must become with a six-round shutout of Mike Evans.</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>The headliner, Mark Breland, felt Biggs had only shown a fraction of what he was capable of.</p>
<p>Talking to the <i>New York Times</i>:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>''Tyrell has a tendency to be lazy,'' Mark Breland said, ''but he's got something to prove. He can be the heayvweight champ.''</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Laziness wasn't only a criticism of Tyrell Biggs.</p>
<p><b>Mark Breland UD6 Dwight Williams</b></p>
<p>The prodigal son had returned.</p>
<p>Mark Breland, scheduled to face 7-1 Dwight Williams, was the star of the show.</p>
<p>The partisan New York crowd had mainly come to see Breland. As as aforementioned, it was Breland that set the wheels in motion for them to all attend for free.</p>
<p>If you've read part one of this retrospective, you could be forgiven for thinking that Breland was seen as infallible. A master boxer with a cobras string in either fist, only one other pugilist had ever gotten the better of him in his career.</p>
<p>If there is often a criticism of boxing historians it is that we look at fighters of the past through rose tinted spectacles, and don't care to acknowledge contemporary reports of fighters that were less than rainbows and pots of gold.</p>
<p>With Breland, you'd think there weren't any to look at.</p>
<p>But alas, there was, and there were deficiencies in Breland's make-up that were noticed before he'd taken off the head gear.</p>
<p>Starting off with a slightly negative comment, <i>Sports Illustrated </i>initially followed the expected narrative of Breland; that he would be a superstar in the squared circle:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>The scenario is as easy to follow as the fighter's sometimes lazy left jab: After Breland wins the Olympic gold medal in the 147-pound class, he has his first pro fight in November in Madison Square Garden, with all the tickets being given away to New York youths as a way of thanking them for supporting him as a Golden Gloves amateur. Within two years he becomes a gate attraction on the order of Sugar Ray Leonard. He wins the world welterweight title, as Leonard did (if, that is, Breland can still make the 147-pound weight after two or three years). He commands millions for a few more years, a la Leonard, and endorses his way to further riches. He models clothes and speaks at Rotary luncheons. Upon his retirement he resumes his career as a movie actor. (When he was 19, he played the part of the first black cadet in a racially twisted Southern military school in the 1983 film The Lords of Discipline.)</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>In the same article, more glaring flaws than a sometimes 'lazy' jab were alluded to:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>Breland often avoids punches by leaning back rather than by slipping and ducking, and tends to drop his hands too much, leaving his head unprotected. He also relies too much on his right.</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>These things can usually be ironed out as a fighter progresses under professional tutelage. Having worked with the late, great Emmanuel Steward, and now working with Lou Duva and George Benton, Breland should've cleaned his dirty laundry pretty quickly.</p>
<p>In his bout with Williams, it was clear that if this was to happen, it would be a gradual process.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Cs8SNsmpx4Q?list=UUdZ2eufZ7P4gr1SlpuuACmQ" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Criticising a fighter in his pro debut who dominates proceedings from start to finish may seem like a simple expulsion of hot air by cynical boxing fans (or even worse, methane) but for Breland, the stakes were so high that anything other than a first round blowout would've been seen as a disappointment.</p>
<p>This time, <i>Sports Illustrated </i>made a more direct comment about the mistakes Breland was making in the ring:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>The 6'2½", 147-pound Breland faces a big adjustment to the pros because his extraordinary talent permitted him to win 110 of 111 amateur fights with deficient fundamentals. Although his size, speed, power and agility reduced Williams, a 7-1 journeyman, to a balled-up punching bag intent only on survival, Breland again exhibited the flaws that had tarnished his vaunted reputation at Los Angeles: a lazy jab, a tendency to carry his head up and hands down and a lack of well-planned combinations.</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>In a concise fashion, the publication had summed up what Breland's biggest problem was; he' been getting by on his natural gifts in the amateurs, and in the pro ranks this would not be enough.</p>
<p>Breland went on the defensive, claiming he wanted to go six rounds.</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>"Winning is all that matters. How you do it isn't always that important" - Breland, as reported by the <i>Associated Press</i>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Perhaps Breland's lack of improvement can be put down to his training habits. Although he had Lou Duva and George Benton in his corner, he was primarily trained by Tommy Brooks, a perfectly respected trainer nowadays, but even a year after 'A Night of Gold' still regarded as a '<i>comparative neophyte' </i>to the kind of tutelage Breland could have been receiving.</p>
<p>Speaking about Breland's debut victory, Brooks was unrepentant, and looked to those with high expectations to sit back and give the prospect time to breathe:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>"I told Mark to relax, just to win this fight, and we'll look good in the next one," said Tommy Brooks, Breland's trainer. "He's got a lot to learn, but there's just too much pressure on him right now."</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Meldrick Taylor, the young whippersnapper who did what many expected Breland to do and dispatched his man inside a round, was seemingly wise beyond his years when questioned about Breland's seemingly inevitable rise to the pinnacle of the sport:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>''Most people think Breland will be the best but they're pushing him too hard. I believe he'll be equal to the rest of us.''</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>That in itself could be argued against.</p>
<p><b>The Future in the Past</b></p>
<p>'A Night of Gold' was a resounding success for all involved. Regardless of how the careers unfolded of these young pugilists, they were on the map.</p>
<p><b>Virgil Hill </b>went on to record double digit title defences at light heavyweight, and fought many of the best operators of his time, including losses to Tommy Hearns and Roy Jones Jr, but beating Henry Maske to unify the titles in between. Subsequent to his loss to Jones, Hill also picked up a strap at cruiserweight. He never became a household name, but if early reports looked bleak, he certainly turned things around and became a highly respectable fighter, if a little reliant on his left, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFeOWKu6Fpw" target="_blank">outside of his first round KO of Fabrice Tiozzo</a>. He retired with a record of 50-7 with 23 stoppages to his name.</p>
<p><b>Meldrick Taylor </b>was tested a bit more as his pro career went on, having a very close one with 1976 Olympic gold medalist Howard Davis Jr which was rendered a draw, the only blemish going into his run as one of the best talents ever to hold a light welterweight strap. Infamous for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9zKwGeHIgM" target="_blank">his controversial battle with Julio Cesar Chavez in one of the greatest bouts of the era</a>, Taylor was never able to shake off his Philly foundations, and ended up getting into wars with fighters he should've. A misguided attempt to wrest the junior middleweight crown from Terry Norris ended in defeat, and although Taylor picked up the WBA strap at welterweight, his career has to be seen as a disappointment. Not because of he underachieved, but because he is suffering with pugilistic dementia before he has even hit his fifties. Although this reminds boxing fans of the sacrifice these men go through to entertain us, Taylor is still remembered as the wielder of jet-propelled fists, flurrying his opponents into sometimes being permanently bamboozled.</p>
<p><b>Evander Holyfield </b>said to the <i>New York Times</i> after his first pro bout that he saw a light heavyweight title for himself before too long.</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>Looking to his timetable, the light- heavyweight from Atlanta talked of a title bout in perhaps two years.
<p> </p>
<p>''I'll have the stamina then,'' he said. ''I want to come up the proper way. I don't want to rush.''</p>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>It was a little less than two years before Evander Holyfield won his first title, but it wasn't at light heavyweight, as he found 190lbs, then the cruiserweight limit, much more comfortable, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEKs9BPRi7s" target="_blank">beating the brilliant ex-light heavyweight champ (and ex-con) Dwight Muhammad Qawi via 15-round decision in an epic bout</a> to take the WBA championship.</p>
<p>Holyfield later unified the titles at cruiserweight, and is the consensus greatest ever to compete at that weight among boxing historians. To go over his whole career would take a series of articles in itself, but he eventually outgrew that division and became one of the greatest ever heavyweight champions.</p>
<p>If reading these two articles recapping 'A Night of Gold' makes 30 years ago seem like forever, consider that Holyfield had his last contest only three years ago, retiring on a win. He should be remembered as one of the greatest of his era.</p>
<p><b>Pernell 'Sweet Pea' Whitaker </b>should be remembered as even greater. He wowed the boxing public for years, winning championships at lightweight, light welterweight, welterweight and junior middleweight and being considered not only the best fighter pound-for-pound but a legend in his own time.</p>
<p>It says a lot about Whitaker's talent that his draw with the unbeaten Julio Cesar Chavez is universally considered a robbery, and in fact one of the greatest wins of all time.</p>
<p>Whitaker was a defensive savant, a terrific inside fighter, one of the best jabbers of the era with a cast iron chin and underrated punching power. Quite simply, he is one of the greatest boxers of all-time.</p>
<p><b>Tyrell Biggs </b>managed to fight his way into contention with respected trial horses and former world class contenders such as Renaldo Snipes and James 'Quick' Tillis. Unfortunately, at the top of the mountain was a man who could bring it down with a swipe.</p>
<p>In October, 1987, less than three years since Biggs had failed to wow Madison Square Garden at 'A Night of Gold', he went in with Mike Tyson, bang in his prime and not only considered the toughest and most dangerous man in the heavyweight division, but in the world.</p>
<p>Biggs started off well, perhaps giving a glimpse into how Muhammad Ali would've approached the fight. But as has already been said, Biggs was no Ali, and Tyson devastated him until a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHpKpidg3mc" target="_blank">merciful ending in the seventh round</a>.</p>
<p>Biggs' next bout was a familiar face. Francesco Damiani, who couldn't solve the riddles Biggs posed him in the amateurs, stopped Biggs on a cut, and the once promising career of the first super heavyweight Olympic gold medalist was resigned to the scrap heap, where Biggs was sometimes dusted off to be thrown back onto it by other contenders on their trek to the mountain.</p>
<p><b>Mark Breland </b>initially looked like he would fulfill the prophecy written for him by so many others. He avenged his one amateur loss with a third round win over Daryl Anthony.</p>
<p>But still, there were cracks in the foundations.</p>
<p>Veteran trainer Joe Fariello was asked to polish the rough diamond and turn him into a sparkling championship belt.</p>
<p>He conceded to the <i>New York Times</i> that it wasn't easy:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>''This is the toughest job I've ever had,'' he said, two weeks after taking over Breland last month. ''He has so many bad habits that have to be stripped away before he can be taught how to be a professional. And how do you tell a kid with a 110-1 record he needs help, that what he's been doing all along is wrong?''</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Breland picked up the vacant WBA welterweight strap, which was essentially meaningless as a clear lineage had been established from Donald Curry to Lloyd Honeyghan.</p>
<p>Perhaps Curry is the best fighter to compare Breland too. Like Breland, Curry was a fantastic amateur who was nuking welterweights, and was expected to move up in weight seamlessly, where he would feast on bigger meals and still have room for more.</p>
<p>Like Breland, Curry found his everest.</p>
<p>Breland's was a fighter completely the opposite of him. Steady, defensively minded and never gunning for a knockout that might not happen.</p>
<p>Marlon Starling picked off Breland's punches with ease, chipped away, and felled the upright boxer-puncher in the 11th round of a 15 round title fight to take the shine off of Breland's star for good.</p>
<p>Breland earned a draw with Starling in a rematch (in my opinion a gift decision) and briefly found his old form in a second title run, which saw him smash the then former lineal welterweight champion Lloyd Honeyghan inside two rounds.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/7-ZmODFI5h4" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Any attempt at a renaissance for Breland was ended for good when Aaron Davis stopped him in nine rounds. To put this into perspective, Meldrick Taylor, Gold medal winner three weights below Breland, topped Davis soon after.</p>
<p>In a way, Breland was one of the biggest busts in boxing history.</p>
<p>But he can only be faulted for not meeting the expectations of others.</p>
<p>Back before he was a professional, when all around him were predicting fistic glory, Breland had his eyes on the future:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>"I want to renovate old buildings and rent them out, but not at high rates, because the people around here don't have a lot of money."</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Today, Breland seems to be doing just that, as well as being a permanent fixture at amateur boxing events.</p>
<p>He met his own expectations. And as selfish as we can be as boxing fans, that is nothing to sniff at.</p>
https://www.badlefthook.com/2014/11/15/7155779/30-years-ago-today-1984-night-of-gold-part-two-full-fightsKyle McLachlan2014-11-14T08:26:32-05:002014-11-14T08:26:32-05:0030th Anniversary of 'A Night of Gold': Part One
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<figcaption><a href='http://GettyImages.Com'>Focus On Sport</a></figcaption>
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<p>Thirty years ago tomorrow, six Olympic medalists all turned pro on the same night in front of a packed Madison Square Garden. In part one of two, we look at just why this was such a special night, and just how highly touted these fighters were. </p> <p>Tomorrow, November 15th, marks the anniversary of some of the World's best amateurs all turning pro on the same November evening.</p>
<p>All hailed from the United States of America, who on home turf in the 1984 Olympic Games, won a record nine gold medals, with one silver and one bronze only adding to the glory.</p>
<p>The bill, under the banner of promoter Dan Duva's 'Main Events', televised on the ABC network and known as 'A Night of Gold', featured no less than four gold medal winners, as well as those lagging behind in the runners-up spots.</p>
<p>The fighters who won these medals were of varying quality, all brilliant in their own way, and would go on to differing levels of success in the pro ranks.</p>
<p>But what led to a record haul of Gold for the U.S.A boxing team in the 1984 Olympic games?</p>
<p>And is there any truth to the oft-repeated claim that such glory was facilitated by the boycott of the games by many leading nations in amateur boxing?</p>
<p>Let's take a look at the lead up to this night, as well as the reputations of these fighters going into their professional bows.</p>
<p><b>The Landscape</b></p>
<p>The 1984 Olympics were boycotted by both the USSR and Cuba, who were, America aside, the leading nations in amateur boxing at that time. The top boxers East of Germany and from Cuba fought in their own Olympic style tournament as the 'Friendship Games' in Havana, the Communist counterpart to the Olympics.</p>
<p>While the official reason given was that the Soviets felt their athletes were in danger due to "anti-Soviet hysteria" that was "whipped up in the United States", it's just as likely that this was a petty riposte to the USA boycotting the 1980 games, which were in Moscow.</p>
<p>Cuba, also communist, followed suit, and the cold war which saw plenty of posturing and pointing of fingers had spilled into amateur pugilism.</p>
<p>Not that there weren't skirmishes.</p>
<p>Before the Olympics, the continents converged at the World Amateur Boxing Championships in 1982, and in February of 1984 the Cubans had taken on the USA in a series of challenge matches.</p>
<p>If we are to objectively judge whether or not the American boxers would've had such a tremendous winning tally at the 1984 games, we need to see how they matched up to their peers outside of it.</p>
<p><i>Sports Illustrated </i>published an article prior to the Olympics titled 'A Decline in the Gold Standard'. In it, they detailed which sports would be most heavily affected by the boycott.</p>
<blockquote>"The Soviets don't have any current world champs in boxing, so the quality of the competition won't be ruined," says Leslie King of the U.S Boxing Federation. Ask her about Cuba though, and she gets nervous.</blockquote>
<p>From lightest to heaviest, let's take a look and try to make a hypothesis as to which American athletes were probably fortunate that the Soviets and Cubans refused to compete.</p>
<p>Note that I am excluding gold medallists Paul Gonzales (light flyweight), Steve McCrory (flyweight), Jerry Page (light welterweight) Frank Tate (light middleweight) and Henry Tillman (heavyweight) who, McCrory aside, turned pro subsequent to tomorrow's anniversary.</p>
<p><b>Meldrick Taylor - Olympic Gold at Featherweight </b></p>
<p>The super quick Philadelphian had won the national AAU and Golden Gloves championships at bantamweight. He reached the final of the 1983 AIBA World Junior championships, only to be knocked out in the third round by the brilliant Cuban Angel Espinosa.</p>
<p>But that was at light welterweight, and as Taylor matured he dropped down to featherweight, which proved a better fit for him at that time.</p>
<p>Only seventeen years old by the time the games came around, Taylor was like lightning and had gusto to go with his skills. He was a natural fighter, something which would be his downfall in later years.</p>
<p>But would he have won Olympic honours had the Cubans participated? Adolfo Horta, two-time World amateur and Pan-Am champion, had lost to Taylor in the Cuba versus USA 'world series' earlier in the year. The result was described as 'a huge upset'.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1915&dat=19840219&id=gDJSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HTYNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1357,3632230" target="_blank">Taylor said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>"I had to show everybody that my potential is as good as Horta's potential. I'm one of the best for nomination to the U.S team."</blockquote>
<p>Whether Taylor deserved the decision or not is another matter.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/2ZtkzuZavT8" height="315" width="420"></iframe></p>
<p>Hurt in all three-rounds and dropped in the second, Taylor's fast hands could not offset Horta's excellent timing, and the Cuban found the target with his right cross more often than not.</p>
<p>Being at home may have seen Taylor win another close one had he fought Horta in the tournament.</p>
<p>The <i>Boston Globe </i>gave a run-down of each weight class before the Olympics, and staked their bets and who was likeliest to medal.</p>
<blockquote>Cuba's Adolfo Horta seems a hundred years old, but...he's still spry enough to dominate.</blockquote>
<p>Taylor would've had an uphill battle if he had to rematch Horta with a medal on the line.</p>
<p>He had to qualify first, and despite his amateur resume and quickness, he lost in the quarter finals of the Olympic trials, in an upset to National Golden Gloves champion Andy Minsker.</p>
<p>Still, Taylor beat Minsker twice after that and qualified for the Los Angeles games, being seen as 'a surprise package' by long time team U.S.A coach Pat Nappi, who had guided the legendary Montreal '76 team to multiple medals.</p>
<p>Taylor won the Olympic games at featherweight against some tough and game fighters. He didn't have the toughest path to the Gold, but Omar Catari of Venezeula won Bronze in the next games, and Peter Konyegwachie was the Commonwealth champion. Still a talented bunch that staying consistent over the weeks against them should be seen as a serious accomplishment.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/K9Oz3f_bfCs" height="315" width="420"></iframe></p>
<p>It is debatable whether or not young Meldrick Taylor could've taken the spoils had the classy Cuban had made his way to Los Angeles. But one thing that is not up for debate is that Taylor was a talent of the highest calibre.</p>
<p><b>Pernell Whitaker - Olympic Gold at Lightweight</b></p>
<p>It will be no surprise to anyone that is aware of 'Sweet Pea' that he was a tremendous amateur. The kid that would become arguably the greatest pure boxer of his generation won many amateur titles, and was seen as a lock for Olympic honours.</p>
<p>Known as 'Pete' to his family and friends, and 'Sweet Pete' to amateur boxing aficionados, a journalists typo saw him labelled as 'Sweet <i>Pea</i>', and his most recognisable moniker was born.</p>
<p>A street tough that happened to be blessed with incredible reflexes, Whitaker was a pure fighter that also has sickening skills. He was made to be a boxer.</p>
<p>Although he had to settle for silver in the World amateur championships, his conqueror that time, the outstanding Cuban Angel Herrera, struggled to keep pace with Whitaker in later bouts, losing four in a row.</p>
<p>In the final of the 1983 Pan-Am games, Whitaker pulled away from his Cuban rival.</p>
<blockquote>The first two rounds were close, but Whitaker came on in the third, pummelling the 30-year old Cuban and nearly stopping him.</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1BNLzIYCELM" height="315" width="420"></iframe></p>
<p>Whitaker then beat Herrera in the 1984 dual between the USA and Cuba.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/KctNUDX8O-Y" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Herrera won the Gold medal in the Friendship Games, but Whitaker would've been favourite to beat him again in the Olympics.</p>
<p>Considering Herrera was already a two-time Olympic Gold medallist, and that with his initial win over Whitaker a two-time World champion, this should demonstrate the sheer class of Whitaker.</p>
<p>If it doesn't, consider that Whitaker also beat the second best Cuban lightweight, Ramon Goire, although Whitaker had to get up off the deck to do so.</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>"He gave me the worst two rounds of my life," said Whitaker, a brash southpaw who has beaten Cuba's two-time Olympic champ, Angel Herrera, in each of their last four meetings. In the third round the boxers slugged for an extra 10 seconds because the bell was drowned out by the cheering. Before the fight Whitaker had said, "I'm looking for a standing ovation," and after his 3-2 decision, he got it.-<i>Sports Illustrated</i>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>What isn't common knowledge, is that some thought Whitaker was gifted an Olympic berth in the first place.</p>
<p>The number one ranked amateur in the World, Whitaker had a hard time with Joe Belinc in the Olympic box-offs. Whitaker had won their first encounter, but Belinc avenged the defeat on the first day of the final box-offs.</p>
<p>His Olympic dreams would've been up in smoke had Whitaker lost to Belinc again the next day. Whitaker claimed he wasn't boxing as he should, and promised a different approach in the rubber match:</p>
<blockquote>"I'm going to be more flashy and really cut loose" Whitaker said. "Lately, I've been feeling tight and trying to be a big bully. In these fights, I'll be on my toes moving all the time".</blockquote>
<p>In boxing on the move, Whitaker allowed Belinc to be the aggressor, and a close 3-2 split decision saw the Virginia native squeak into the Olympics. The verdict was 'booed by the crowd at Caesers Palace'.</p>
<p>Belinc wasn't impressed when Whitaker said blisters contributed to his lacklustre performance:</p>
<blockquote>"Those blisters are from running my boy", Belinc said to Whitaker. "We're in boxing, not track and field. Maybe you should try out for the 100-yard dash."</blockquote>
<p>Belinc and his trainer, Troy Summers, suggested that Whitaker was wanted by the commission and that the decision was a political one.</p>
<blockquote>"Pete Whitaker is the World champion. Pete is the one they wanted, and they got him."</blockquote>
<p>Pernell Whitaker was going to the Olympics.</p>
<p>With Herrera out of the Games, Whitaker looked to the next best fighter in his weight class, the no.3 ranked Chun-Chil Sung of South Korea.</p>
<blockquote>"I want to fight the Korean first becaue he's supposed to be the silver medallist, and I want to fight the medal opponents first....He comes straight at you. He's tough like all the Koreans are tough."</blockquote>
<p>As tough and highly-ranked as Sung was, he was no match for Whitaker, who beat him 5-0 in the semi-finals in Los Angeles on his way to the gold.</p>
<p>With his superiority over the best Cuban clear for all to see, and by beating Sung so comprehensively, there should be little doubt that the man who would become known as 'Sweet Pea' didn't win his medal by getting a favourable draw. He was without a doubt the best lightweight in the world, something he would come to prove in the professional ranks.</p>
<p><b>Mark Breland - Olympic Gold at Welterweight</b></p>
<p>The hype surrounding Brooklyn boy Breland may be hard to understand if you weren't there at the time. Think of the excitement surrounding Vasyl Lomachenko's professional debut and double it. As a highly successful American amateur, in a decade where boxing was very much still a big deal, Breland's impeccable knockout record made him not only a shoo-in for Olympic honours, but to many a sure fire hit in the paid ranks.</p>
<p>Breland's record was an incredible 110-1. He won a record five consecutive New York Golden Gloves championships, with an unblemished record of 21-0. He knocked out 19 of these opponents, also a record. He hit these pugilists so hard that 14 of them couldn't get out of the first round, also a record.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XYK7wBGEtWw" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>In 1981 and 1982 he won the national championships, and in 1982 he won the World champioships, dropping and defeating the brilliant Serik Konakbayev of Kazakhstan (then part of the USSR) in the final.</p>
<p>Breland looked simply unbeatable.</p>
<p>So high on Breland were the fans and pundits of the time, that before he'd even secured his qualification <i>Sports Illustrated</i> wrote:</p>
<blockquote>That Mark Breland...will win an Olympic gold medal is as plain as the graffiti on the buildings in Bed-Stuy</blockquote>
<p>Some of the best boxing minds of all time were no less gushing in their appraisal of Breland's talent.</p>
<p>Ray Arcel, the legendary trainer who honed the skills of legends such as Benny Leonard, Barney Ross and Roberto Duran, said of Breland:</p>
<blockquote>"Breland reminds me of the Sugar Ray Robinson I saw fighting as an amateur at the Salem Crescent Gymnasium in Harlem. He's a natural. He can box, he can punch, he knows how to make an opening, he picks off punches good, and he has a grace and rhythm to go with it. And he knows how to relax. Breland has the makings of a truly great fighter."</blockquote>
<div class="pullquote">"Breland reminds me of the Sugar Ray Robinson I saw fighting as an amateur at the Salem Crescent Gymnasium in Harlem."-Ray Arcel</div>
<p>Breland had already sparred with Tommy Hearns, bang in his prime.</p>
<p>The legendary guru of Kronk Gym in Detroit, Emmanuel Steward, was impressed with how Breland adjusted to Hearns, then the WBC junior middleweight champion and just about the most dangerous man in gloves on Earth.</p>
<blockquote>"Tommy's jab had more snap than Marks. He kept knocking Mark off balance. In the next day's session Mark would throw a slow jab, Tommy would throw a snappy jab, and Mark would block it and come back with a fast jab of his own. That's when I saw that Mark was thinking. He had figured it out."</blockquote>
<p>Breland was already a star. He had the unanimous praise of his elders, had a glittering resume, and aside from boxing had already done a bit of acting.</p>
<p>You could've forgiven him for taking his eye off the ball, or resting on his laurels.</p>
<p>While that wasn't the case, Breland, who did as expected and won the gold, was booed, even in his home country.</p>
<p>Expected to slaughter everyone with the first punch he threw, Breland had to box his way to victory in all but two contests. He was tagged a few times in the tournament, but never in serious trouble. He did nothing wrong.</p>
<p>The expectation of him was too high.</p>
<p>Pat Nappi, veteran coach, said to <i>The Los Angeles Times </i>a few years later:</p>
<blockquote>"Brelands problem is that everybody expected him to be a killer, and he never was."</blockquote>
<p>In 1984 though, Breland was undoubtedly the best amateur welterweight in the world. He probably would've won the gold regardless of which countries participated.</p>
<p><b>Virgil Hill - Olympic Silver at Middleweight</b></p>
<p>The National Golden Gloves champion, Virgil Hill was a wildcard going into the Olympics. He'd had mixed success at international level, with the high point being a comprehensive victory over touted Cuban, Pan-Am and world champion, Bernardo Comas.</p>
<p>The <i>Boston Globe </i>said that middleweight was a wide open division:</p>
<blockquote>When American Virgil Hill destroyed Cuban Bernardo Comas at the North Americans, the form book became worthless. Hill will have to take Michael Grogan (who missed the Pan-Ams with a freak back injury) to make the U.S team.</blockquote>
<p>As it stood, Hill had to beat another Michael, future professional middleweight champion Michael Nunn. Hill did, and years later, when interviewed by Jaroslaw Drozd for <i>Eastside Boxing </i>wasn't too complimentary to the man who would become known as 'Second To' Nunn:</p>
<blockquote>"Nunn, he couldn't beat anyone at 156 so he thought he could move up to 165 and beat me."</blockquote>
<p>Nunn couldn't, and Hill made the Olympic team.</p>
<p>The possibility of results being rendered to appease the partisan Los Angeles crowd needs to be addressed, and there is no better time to do this than now.</p>
<p>The Korean team had protested several decisions at the Olympics, but none more so than eventual light welterweight gold medallist Jerry Page's victory over Dong-Kil Kim.</p>
<p>The South Koreans threatened an immediate pull-out.</p>
<p>Jack Hairston, writing for the <i>Gainesville Sun, </i>felt no fault could be found with the American officials:</p>
<blockquote>The decisions have been lopsided in favour of the Americans, though it should be pointed out that Americans never serve as referees or judges when the Americans are in action. The bottom line is that foreign judges have been bending to the loud hometown crowd, and how much can American officials do about that?</blockquote>
<p>Hairston went on to say that he felt Page had deserved the victory.</p>
<p>Virgil Hill however, was deemed by the same writer to have been lucky to win his quarter final bout with Yugoslavia's Damir Skaro.</p>
<p align="center"><iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/KbFJAa718jA" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe></p>
<p>It wasn't only Hairston that felt that way. The L.A crowd booed the decision, and Hill himself wasn't so sure he'd won, although he was disappointed with the crowd reaction.</p>
<blockquote>"The booing by my own people bothers me a bit. Everybody has a bad performance in a long tournament like this, and today I had mine. I'll put on a better performance in the semi-finals."</blockquote>
<p>Hill fought his way into the final, where he met South Korean standout Shin Joon-Sup, the 1983 World Cup winner at middleweight.</p>
<p>Before the bout, the <i>Associated Press </i>gave their prediction:</p>
<blockquote>Hill is not fast afoot or with his hands, but has good power and fights well in the third round. Shin is another rough-tough Korean who keeps punching when hurt. He applies constant pressure and hits hard, and more accurately than Hill. Pick: Shin by decision.</blockquote>
<p>The <i>Associated Press </i>report told of a close fight, with an even first round. In the second round, Joon-Sup outfought Hill in close. In the third they went to war, and it was too close to call.</p>
<blockquote>Two judges scored it for Shin, 60-58 and 59-58. Two others voted 59-58 each for Hill. The fifth scored it 59-59 and then gave the fight to Shin under international amateur boxing rules that require a judge to pick a winner even if he's scored it even. Those rules also dictated the 3-2 result go to an appeals jury, but the verdict was sustained.</blockquote>
<p>Immediately after the bout, Hill was gracious in defeat, if a little self-deprecating. <i>Sports Illustrated </i>quoted Hill as saying:</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>"Stars give 110 percent, not 100. I only gave 105. I could have pushed more. But I can't take anything away from the Korean. He's really a great champion."</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Years later, in the aforementioned interview with <i>Eastside Boxing, </i>Hill talked about how he felt he was the fall guy that suffered in an attempt to appease the South Korean officials who made claims of corruption.</p>
<blockquote>What happened was a couple Americans fought South Koreans and the decisions were a little shaky. It came out in the newspaper that the South Koreans were going to pull out of the 1988 Olympics, because of this. I was the next fighter to fight a South Korean after this happened and I won the fight 3-2. However, that was the first year they had a jury. The decision went to the jury and the decision got overturned 4-1.</blockquote>
<p>Hill's report conflicts with the AP version of events. <a style="background-color: #ffffff;" href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19840812&id=RdQvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZfsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3644,4091120" target="_blank">Another report </a>said that the result <i>did </i>go to a jury, but that they also favoured the South Korean.</p>
<p>Whatever happened, Hill had to settle for a silver. As we'll see in part two, his marketability and potential earnings suffered massively as a result.</p>
<p>The next fighter we will look at didn't even win a silver, yet had none of the issues Hill did turning over. In fact to some, he was the hottest prospect of the team.</p>
<p><b>Evander Holyfield - Olympic Bronze at Light Heavyweight</b></p>
<p>A natural fighter with a serious dig, a national champion in two weight divisions, a silver medallist at the world championships, winner of the gold medal at the Olympic trials and said by the <i>Boston Globe </i>to 'do no worse than Silver' at the Los Angeles games.</p>
<p>Manny Steward's Kronk Gym in Detroit certainly knew how to churn out monsters.</p>
<p>Wait, I hear you ask, Evander Holyfield is from Atlanta, Georgia, right? And he didn't team up with Manny Steward until the second Bowe fight in the pro's?</p>
<p>You'd be right on both counts, because I'm talking about Ricky Womack.</p>
<p>Ricky Womack was one of the very best amateurs in the U.S around the time of the Olympics. A two-fisted puncher who avenged a loss to the top Cuban light heavyweight Pablo Romero at the world championships by decimating him inside a round, Womack looked a guarantee to medal in Los Angeles.</p>
<p>Evander Holyfield was pretty much an unknown quantity in the Olympic box-offs.</p>
<p>But not to Ricky Womack, who had beaten Holyfield in the semi-finals of national championships.</p>
<p>At Fort Worth, in the semi-finals of the Olympic Trials, Ricky Womack faced off with Holyfield again.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3hMZ1kRf5u4" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Clearly these two were well-matched, but when Womack faced Holyfield two nights in a row in the final Olympic box-offs, he was expected to win.</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>Holyfield used a good jab and accurate head punching to beat Womack and make the Olympics-<i>Associated Press</i>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Holyfield beat Womack 4-1 on Friday July 6th, and by the same score on Saturday July 7th, securing his spot on the Olympic team against one of the very best in the world.</p>
<p>Holyfield was not a complete rank outsider. He'd won the national Golden Gloves that year, the same year Womack had won the 'World Championship Challenge' with his straight-up mugging of Romero.</p>
<p>Whether or not Holyfield could have won top honours had the Cubans gone is another matter. The old adage styles make fights was never more true than here, as although Holyfield had beaten Womack twice, he had twice lost to Romero, once in the final of the Pan-Am Games, which was just about his best international achievement at the time, and in the Cuba vs. USA challenge match earlier in 1984.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/M5WKPh3lytM" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>As the games progressed, Holyfield looked a guarantee for gold. In a fairly weak division, he was doing what the fans had expected Mark Breland to do, which was throw nuclear bombs into his foe's faces.</p>
<p>His opponents from Ghana, Iraq and Kenya didn't hear the final bell.</p>
<p>Holyfield continued in the same fashion in his semi-final bout with Kevin Barry of New Zealand, scoring a standing eight count in the first round and hurting his man on numerous occasions. Barry, in survival mode, clinched Holyfield and pulled his head down, and received warnings for doing so.</p>
<p>Barry's final clinch didn't bring about a disqualification, but did bring about the end of the fight.</p>
<p>Holyfield tried to create seperation, not realising the referee had seen enough messiness and was about to do the same.</p>
<p>Uncorking a monster left hook, the Georgian cracked through the Kiwi's head and dropped him to the canvas.</p>
<p>The timing of the punch was perfect in the sense of it's deployment and landing. In terms of the action, it was off.</p>
<p>The referee had called for the fighters to break. Barry couldn't continue, Holyfield was disqualified and his dreams of a gold medal went up in smoke.</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote>Misfortune didn't strike again until Novicic thumbed Holyfield out of the Olympics and-as sort of a silver (or bronze) lining-to greater national exposure than if he'd gone on to win the gold medal. "It looked to me like the referee was pulling for him," Holyfield said quietly. "He warned him about nine times for holding, and usually after a couple of those a boxer is disqualified. I don't know why the referee did what he did. I was throwing a combination. Barry even threw a punch. I never heard the referee say anything until after the guy went down. Even if I had heard him, there was no way I could stop a punch in midair. I knew the way we were going that somebody would get a raw deal down the line. I just never thought it would be me."-<i>Sports Illustrated</i>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/LjP4EtPDUc8" height="315" width="420"></iframe></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><b>This short clip from 'Beyond the Glory' shows Holyfield's Olympic KOs and details the controversy over him being disqualified</b></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Barry could not continue into the final, so Yugoslavia's Anton Josipovic won a gold medal on a walk over.</p>
<div class="pullquote">"I knew the way we were going that somebody would get a raw deal down the line. I just never thought it would be me."-Evander Holyfield</div>
<p style="text-align: left;">Perhaps tellingly, the gold medalist brought Holyfield up to the highest point on the podium to share the glory.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Going into his pro debut, Holyfield was seen as a cheated champion, and a great bet to be a great pro fighter. Whilst he didn't have the personal satisfaction of such a great achievement, not winning the gold hadn't done any harm to his earning potential or fame as it had to Virgil Hill, who had won a silver fair and square.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The heaviest of the gold medalists was the one who suffered the most criticism.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><b>Tyrell Biggs - Olympic Gold at Super Heavyweight</b></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The Muhammad Ali era was not only arguably the biggest in boxing, or at leat featured its most transcendent star, but it spawned a host of imitators.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Not in the sense that these young men wanted to make a quick buck from a poor imitation of 'The Greatest', but because he was so influential. He showed that a big man didn't need to stand in the centre of the ring and trade punches to get the victory, and could rely on athletic gifts and speed.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">That is of course, if you were quick and athletically gifted.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Tyrell Biggs, a 20-year old Philadelphian, was.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Unfortunately, the press at the time felt he lacked something that could take him to the next level.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> </p>
<blockquote>Like Ali, Biggs can float like a butterfly-but unfortunately he also stings like one. Plus, he lacks the confidence most champions have.-<i>Sports Illustrated</i>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: left;">It must have been hard to be filled with confidence when the biggest obstacle in your way was the wiry frame of three-time Olympic gold medalist Teoflo Stevenson, at that point the most famous amateur boxer in the world.</p>
<p>The super heavyweight division, like head guards, was a relatively new addition to the amateur game.</p>
<p>Stevenson, getting on in age, had outgrown the heavyweight division where he had picked up most of his great victories and medals. No longer the slender, lanky boxer-puncher of old, he was now a burlier figure, who relied on his power and accuracy more than his speed.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Biggs had been stopped by Stevenson in '82, but had gotten stronger since then.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">In the same year, Stevenson suffered a shocking loss to tough Italian Francesco Damiani in the world championships. Biggs beat Damiani via decision and secured the gold in one of the most coveted competitions in amateur boxing.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Still, the towering figure of Stevenson loomed over him.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">In the 1984 challenge between the two countries, Biggs got closer. In a highly competitive bout, a knockdown in the third round seemed to be the difference, with Stevenson edging a 3-2 victory over his younger opponent.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Biggs claimed a foul:</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> </p>
<blockquote>"I couldn't understand why the referee counted it as a knockdown. I think I won the fight. I know I won the first two rounds."</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Manny Steward, working with Biggs, was more diplomatic:</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> </p>
<blockquote>"The pressure got to Tyrell, and he kind of collapsed in the third round," says Emanuel Steward, who trains Thomas Hearns and Milt McCrory and has been in Biggs's corner this year. "Tyrell learned a lot. He knows he can beat the man. Stevenson is my favorite heavyweight other than Ali. He was the most perfectly balanced fighter I ever saw. But he has slowed tremendously."</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/YYH1kaeEKEI" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The <i>Boston Globe </i>questioned Stevenson's chances in the Olympics:</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> </p>
<blockquote>Will three-time Olympic champion Teofilo Stevenson go for it once more? Or are the whispers true that he's over the hill at 31? At the moment, the top Cuban is Jorge Gonzalez, who decisioned U.S world champion Tyrell Biggs in Caracas.</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: left;">That much is true. Biggs had won a bronze in the Pan-Am games. With the Cubans out, Biggs would only have his old rival, Damiani of Italy, to contend with.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">In 1984, in the pre-Olympic 'World Championship Chllenge', Biggs defeated the tough Italian in front of the same L.A crowd that would be cheering him on in the Olympics.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Well, you'd think they would've.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> </p>
<blockquote>Against the 6'1", 220-pound Damiani, a shaggy-haired brawler who has a Kirk Douglas chin and the nose of his favorite heavyweight, Gerry Cooney, Biggs jabbed effectively and made Damiani miss. Yet the crowd of 6,403 applauded Damiani and booed Biggs when the 4-1 decision was announced. Perhaps the knockout-hungry L.A. fans, accustomed as they are to pro fights, were unfamiliar with the tactics and scoring employed in amateur boxing, which stresses the number-not necessarily the power-of punches landed.
<p> </p>
<p>"Mi hanno fregato" (I wuz robbed), said Damiani, who lost a 3-2 decision to Biggs in their 1982 World Championship bout in Munich.</p>
<p>Biggs was more hurt by the booing than by Damiani's punches. "What do they want from me?" he said. "I fought my fight. I don't want to make this a racial thing.... Maybe they just didn't enjoy the fight."</p>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: left;">It remained to be seen whether Biggs would suffer the same reaction in the Olympics.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Qualifying with a win over the tubby Craig Payne (who was a solid fighter and a top amateur, having beaten Biggs before and some kid called Mike Tyson) Biggs worked his way through the Olympics, winning as expected, by decision.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">He had a tough out in the semi-final, having to scrap and box with a young Canadian representative called Lennox Lewis.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/yjUC6xys_QA" height="315" width="420"></iframe></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Lewis was not at the peak of his amateur form, though as he was already touted as a puncher and would win the gold medal in Seoul four years later, this was clearly a tough out for Biggs.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Biggs would find it no easier in the final, where he again met his Italian rival.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">When we look at whether the American boxers would've been so successful if the Communist pugilists had been in L.A, we can't simply assume that the Americans had it easy.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Damiani was the number one ranked super heavyweight in the world. Biggs was ranked second, and Stevenson was ranked third.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">So even though the chips may have fallen differently in the Olympics, as they often do when so many high class fighters are forced to fight each other in a short space of time, when Tyrell Biggs fought Francesco Damiani, it was the two best fighters in the world going at it for the biggest prize in the sport.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XmkWvz7XVHY" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Biggs won the decision 4-1, the first ever Olympic 'super heavyweight' champion, and the only American to date to earn that honour.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">As with every Olympic boxing tournament, people wanted to see how the most talented fighters could get on in the professional ranks.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">How would they adapt to the more violent game? Would their stamina hold up over longer distances than three rounds? Would any of these fighters win World championships?</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The fans wouldn't have to wait long to find out.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Tomorrow, on the 30th anniversary of the professional debuts of these fighters we will look at the build up to 'A Night of Gold', the action, and what the future had in store for this excellent team.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I'll leave the last word here to veteran broadcaster and journalist Howard Cosell, whose voice is instantly recognisable to anyone who has watched any boxing from the great few decades that saw Muhammad Ali as the most famous fighter in the World and up to Larry Holmes' one-sided drubbing of Randall 'Tex' Cobb:</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> </p>
<blockquote>"Based upon my experience in covering international amateur boxing, I think they (the Cubans) might have won two or three gold medals. In view of the improvement of the other foreign fighters I will not diminish the efforts of these American fighter one bit. I think it's the finest, deepest amateur boxing team ever developed anywhere in the world and that's for the record."</blockquote>
https://www.badlefthook.com/2014/11/14/7173919/olympic-article-part-2Kyle McLachlan