The Neutral Corner

I come not to bury Cuban boxers, but to praise them.

For the first time since the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, the Cuban boxing team will go home without a gold medal in boxing. Aside from boycotting the 1984 and 1988 Games, Cuba has dominated the boxing competition.

It was difficult to call Cuba the boxing favorite before the Games in Beijing because it lost five gold medalists from its 2004 team. Three of them – Yuriorkis Gamboa, Odlanier Solis and Yan Barthelemy defected, another, Guillermo Rigondeaux, was banned after a failed attempt at defection, and the great Mario Kindelain had retired.

So, not only did Cuba send a team to Beijing without a defending gold medalist, it sent a team without a single round of Olympic experience. Also, for the first time, they qualified boxers in 10 weight classes, not the full compliment of 11 weight classes. But then, suddenly, a week into the competition, those who doubted the mighty Cuban boxing machine were looking silly.

In the history of Olympic boxing, there have only been three fighters who won three boxing gold medals. Two of them were Cubans Teofilo Stevenson and Felix Savon (the third was Hungary's Laszlo Papp). Cuba is the country that gave the boxing world Kid Gavilan, Luis Rodriguez and Joel Casamayor. How could we doubt them.

Cuba sent eight fighters into the semifinals, guaranteeing them at the very least, eight bronze medals. They ended up with four bronze and four silver medals.

Two of the favorites to capture gold were middleweight Emilio Correa and lightweight Yordanis Ugás. Ugás won gold at the 2005 world championships and the 2007 Pan Am Games. Correa also captured gold at the 2007 Pan Am Games. Correa is the son of Emilio Correa Sr., a welterweight who was a mainstay on the Cuban national team from 1966 to 1979. Correa Sr. won gold at the 1971 Pan Am Games, 1972 Olympics and 1974 world championships.

At Beijing, Correa wound up with a silver medal while Ugas won bronze.

Here is what happened. Cuba got a taste of its own medicine. For years, American amateur fighters argued that they were really fighting pro fighters when they met the Cubans. Fighters in Cuba are not allowed to turn pro and therefore remain in the amateur ranks for years. Thus, an 18-year-old American kid might face a 28-year-old Cuban for the gold medal. Seems a bit unfair, but that’s what happened to several Cuban fighters in Beijing. They went up against far more experienced fighters and lost.

Yes, we all remember the great Jerry Seinfeld comedy routine when he says the gold medalist is forever “the greatest guy in the world,” and the silver medalist, “never heard of him.”

But consider this. We send a team to Beijing without a single round of previous Olympic experience (as we always do because our kids turn pro). But if before the Games, you were told we would come home with four silvers and four boxing bronze medals, you would feel pretty good about that, right?

So why shouldn’t the Cubans? This was team that Fidel Castro refused to allow to the 2007 World Championships for fear of more defections. This was a team with very little international experience. It’s a far cry from ’92 when they won seven gold medals, but eight medals in 11 weight classes isn’t bad either.

We only came home with a bronze medal from heavyweight Deontay Wilder.

-- CASSIDY