LONDON (AP) — The U.S. men’s boxing team is done at the Olympics.
All nine men from the most successful team in Olympic boxing history have been eliminated after losses by flyweight Rau’shee Warren and welterweight Errol Spence on Friday night, capping a stunning run of nine straight defeats in five days after a 4-0 start.
Although three women are still alive in their tournament, which begins Sunday, the American men will head home from London with their worst Olympic showing ever.
Warren is the first three-time Olympic boxing in U.S. history, but the third-seeded flyweight lost his opening Olympic bout for a third time, falling to France’s Nordine Oubaali 19-18. An hour later, Spence lost a difficult decision to India’s defense-minded Krishan Vikas, 13-11, despite showing more aggression throughout the bout.
“It’s disappointing, because we all hate to lose,” said Spence, a promising pro prospect who spent his fight trying to penetrate Vikas’ technical, plodding style. “It’s real disappointing, because we expect to come home with medals, and we didn’t. It’s kind of sad right now.”
The Americans’ 48 gold medals and 108 total medals are easily the most in Olympic boxing history, with 45 more medals than second-place Cuba. But the U.S. shutout in London caps a two-decade struggle to adapt to changes in the amateur sport, with steadily declining medal counts ever since boxing went to a computerized scoring system that rewards a style with stark differences from pro boxing.
The 2008 U.S. team won only one bronze medal in Beijing, previously its worst showing. The American men have won only one gold medal in the last four Olympics, by Andre Ward in Athens in 2004.
The Americans won their first four fights last weekend in London, showing off the improved team chemistry after the Beijing team squabbled and argued their way to a dismal showing. The current U.S. team had a strong relationship with head coach Basheer Abdullah and his staff, but Abdullah only had about six weeks to prepare as a last-minute hire.
None of the fighters blamed the coaching-staff turmoil for his performance, but the string of losses is stark. Three fighters lost on Wednesday, followed by two apiece on Thursday and Friday.
Warren’s loss was particularly heartbreaking after he twice passed on a pro career for another shot at hanging a gold medal around the neck of his mother, Paulette.
Warren wept in Beijing after losing his opening bout with a last-minute tactical error. Four years and another one-point loss later, he seemed dulled to the pain of going winless in his unmatched Olympic career.
Oubaali rallied from a first-round deficit with more aggression and precision than Warren, a former world champion. Warren also lost his contact lenses in the opening round and couldn’t size up Oubaali, who mostly controlled the final two rounds.
Warren also lost his first fights in Athens and Beijing, but stayed in the amateur ranks to become the first U.S. boxer in three Olympics. Now 25, Warren still believes the wait was worth it.
“It ain’t really no setback for me,” Warren said. “It’s always a good experience to do something people don’t normally do.”
Warren was the third-seeded flyweight in London, but Oubaali picked him apart. Warren was curiously passive, particularly over the final two rounds when he couldn’t see well.
Warren still thought he might have eked out the decision, but few fans at ExCel seemed surprised when Oubaali got the decision. Oubaali advanced to the quarterfinals to face Ireland’s Michael Conlon for a medal.
“In the second and third, I was sitting on my shots, trying to land a big left hand, but that didn’t work,” Warren said, outlining a strategy that contrasted sharply with what his coaches asked him to do. “The judges can score a lot of things. You never know what they’re looking at.”
Warren waited well over a decade for this moment, climbing up the amateur ranks in his native Cincinnati and avoiding the pitfalls that put two of his three brothers in prison. He climbed to the top of the amateur sport – and then stumbled at the three biggest moments of his career.
He made his first Olympic team as a 17-year-old light flyweight, but lost his opening bout in 2004 to future Olympic champion Zou Shiming. He stuck with the amateur sport for four more years and won a world championship before going to China as a gold-medal favorite.
Warren made an egregious mental mistake late in that opening bout, trying to coast to a victory in the final minute when he should have been throwing punches. Warren thought he heard incorrect instructions shouted to him by friends in the crowd, and he wept openly after a one-point loss to South Korea’s Lee Ok-sung.
Warren again considered a pro career before deciding to make U.S. Olympic history. He fought for the Los Angeles Matadors with AIBA’s World Series of Boxing as a semipro fighter to make money to support his two children, with another on the way.
“I feel like I didn’t let nobody down, because I’ve had a journey,” Warren said. “Coming back for the third time shows I’m never giving up on a dream.”
