Boxing: Heavyweight victory proves Cubans still lords of the ring

ATHENS - Odlanier Solis maintained Cuba's grip on the showcase heavyweight title by outpointing Viktar Zuyev of Belarus in the final. Zuyev started strongly and trailed only by one point after the opening round, but the powerful Cuban then moved into gear to win a 22-13 decision after a clean, spectacular final.

Solis succeeds the great Felix Savon, who retired after winning his third Olympic heavyweight title for Cuba four years ago in Sydney.

Cuba have now won the heavyweight gold medal at the last seven Games they have entered. They boycotted the Olympics in 1984 in Los Angeles and 1988 in Seoul.

The 24-year-old Solis may not be as intimidating as Savon, but he nevertheless extended a proud tradition.

He also made up for a controversial defeat by a Cuban fighter.

Light-welterweight Yudel Johnson said he was robbed after losing on points to the awkward, yet effective Manus Boonjumnong, of Thailand.

"The judges were not good," a dejected Johnson said.

"They did not take into account what I did in the ring. They should have penalised him for the way he fought. I feel I deserved the gold medal."

With seven boxers in the weekend finals, Cuba had been dreaming of matching their seven boxing titles from the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, a record at non-boycotted Games.

But Manus ruined it, frustrating the more spectacular Cuban with accurate counter-punching to win a 17-11 decision.

All had started well for Cuba, flyweight Yuriorkis Gamboa outpointing Frenchman Jerome Thomas 38-23 with a stylish performance to win the flyweight title.

Gamboa dedicated the victory to his father, a boxing coach who chased glory in the ring in vain before deciding to teach the sport.


Cuba's main rivals, Russia, failed to meet their goals at the weekend with just three boxers in the finals, but won two golds courtesy of featherweight Alexei Tichtchenko and middleweight Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov.

The 20-year-old Tichtchenko convincingly outpointed North Korea's Kim Song-guk, constantly finding his way through his opponent's porous guard to win 39-17 on points.

Gaydarbekov then beat Kazakhstan's Gennadiy Golovkin 28-18 in a fierce if not exciting middleweight final.

* Egypt's super-heavyweight Mohamed Aly will not fight in today's final after failing a pre-fight medical. Russian Alexander Povetkin will be awarded the gold.