A review of the World Amateur Boxing Championships
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from May 1982.
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The stocky Ossai pursued he lost on points to North Korea's Yong Hwan Go in the afternoon session.
Sabirov was unable to handle the North Korean's southpaw stance and seemed curiously subuded for most of the bout. Sabirov was later joined on the sidelines by the winner of the flyweight title at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Petar Lessov of Bulgaria who was out-punched by Cuba's Omar Santiesterban.
Santiesterban, a compact and muscular figure. Two other membrs of the Cuban team did their best to make amends for Ramos's defeat with flyweight Omar Santiesterban turning in a particularly significant performance.
Santieseteban completely dominated his fight with Moscow gold medalist Petar Lessov andthe referee finally stopped the contest in the thir round.
Later, Armondo Martinez showed he was in the sort of form that gavehim a gold Gayle relentlessly scoring repeatedly with powerful right jabs to the head and it came as no suprise when the referee decided to stop the contest in the third round. American Pernell Whittaker also looked a likely prospect when he wonan unanimous points decision over Colombia's Ismaldi Pindeda in another lighweight preminiary.
Whittaker, who appeared far older than his 18 yrs with his shavenhea and impassive demeanour, was content to score with snaking rights to the head and body and was easily abe to evade Pindeda's clumsier attacks.
Ossai, a compact fighting machine, showed Canada's Greg Gayle no mercy and scored almost at will with venomous right jabs. In the third round it was obvious Gayle had no chance and referee Host Hertel from East Germany rightly stopped the contest.
Whitaker's exhibition was in its own way as convincing as Ossai's, but it was also certainly odder.
The grave-faced student with the freshly-shaven head bowed elaborately to the. small crowd before taking on Ismaldi Pindeda in a fight which in the end was as one-sided as the Ossai bout. Whitaker soon had the pleasure of his slower opponent and contented himself with piercing Pindeda's guard with whiplash rights and comfortably evading the Colombian's responses with some almost exaggerated weaving and ducking.
At the end of the bout Whitaker promptly walked to the wrong corner before being called to the centre of the ring where he received the unanmous points decision in his favour with the same lack of expression that had marked his fighting style.
Day 2
The olympic champions in the two lightest weight categories were both eliminated from the World Amateur Boxing Championships during the second day's preliminary bouts.
Light-flyweight title-holder Shamil Sabirov of the Soviet Union was the first to go when by contrast with the slighter Bulgarian, stormed on the attack from the start of the fight hurling some devastating right crosses. The 24-year-old Cuban would probably have taken the fight easily on points, but he made sure of his victory with a two-fisted barrage which left Lessov reeling.
After the first assault referee Keith Walker of New Zealand stepped in with a compulsory eight-count on Lessov. Seconds later he intervened with another complusory count and finally stopped the contest mid-way through the final round. Santiesterban's victory was a consolation for the Cuban camp who had seen their light-flyweight hope Hipolito Ramos defeated on points by Laureano Ramirez of the Dominican Republic.
Ramirez attacked to such effect in the first round that the surprised Ramos was forced to take a complusory count after being staggered by two good left crosses to the head.
Ramirez was not able to keep up the pace in the third round but somehow kept his guard intact to keep his lead over the frustrated Cuban, who won the silver medal in Moscow.
Cuba, the world's leading amateur boxing nation for the past decade, had the unexpected humiliation of seeing one of their leading fighters eliminated in a preliminary bout on the second day of the world championships here. Hipolito Ramos, silver medalist in the light-flyweight division at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, was surprisingly defeated by Laureano Ramirez of the Dominican Republic in one of early bouts. Ramos, who took a compulsory eight-count in the first round after being jolted by two powerful left crosses from his taller opponent, obviously though he had rallied sufficiently well to take the fight. Three of the five judges thought otherwise and a disgruntled Ramos bowed out of the tournament. And the man who defeated him in Moscow, Shamil Sabirov of the Soviet Union, also lost on points to North Korea's Yong Hwan Go. medal in Moscow when he took a unanimous points decision over Yugoslavia's gallant but out-classed Srba Stankovic in a light-meddleweight preliminary.
Meanwhile, the United States enjoyed another successful day with light-flyweight Mario Lesperance and flyweight Michael Collins maintaining their 100 per cent success rate.
The dubious distinction of making the championships' quickest exit so ar went last. medallists when he defeated Srba Stankovic of Yugoslavia on points.
It looked unlikely that the fight would go the distance after Martinez landed a succession of shuddering right crosses which brought Stankovic a compulsory count after only a minute.
However, the Yugoslav defended bravely against the remorseless Cuban and won some ofthe warmest applause of the day when he managed to trade blow for blow in the dying seconds of the bout.
Two earlier preliminary bouts in the light-middleweight category also provided excellent entertainment, Sandor hranek of Hungary outpointing Jeremiah Okorodudu of Nigeria and Detlev Kaestner of East Germany winning a similar decision against Jorge Amparo of the Dominican Republic.
Day 3
A second Cuban boxer made an unexpectedly early exit from the World Amateur Champinship during the thir dday of competition when bantamweight rafael cardenas was defeated on points in a preliminary bout.
Cardenas and his East German opponent Klaus-Di Kirchstein traded blows almost non-stop in a fierce and furious contest and the judges' 4-1 verdict probably reflected Cardenas' tendency to drop his guard in his eagerness to score points.
Yesterday Cuba's lightflyweight Hipolito Ramos also lost in a preliminary fight and already the Cuban's hopes of emulating their tally fo five titles at both the previous World Championships are looking shaky.
Earlier in the final fight of the afternoon session another Cuban Bernardo Comas made a successful start to the tournament when he defeated Romania's Valentin Silaghi on points in a middleweight preliminary. A 100-strong bloc of spectators began frenzied chanting and produced eight Turkish national flags which they waved rhythmically throughout Suemer's clash with Italy's Giuseppe Ferracuti.
Suemer turned out to be an unexciting, rather cautious fighter but that did not make a scrap of difference to the support he was given and whenhe won 3-2 on points his fans raised a did that would have been a credit to a crowd 10 times their size.
If anything the noise that gretted light-welterweight Ali Cukur was even greater especially as it gave the supporters a chance to chant "Ali, Ali" throughout the contest.
Day 4 & 5
Dominican Republic lightweight Laureano Ramirez ended the United States' unbeaten run today with a comfortable points win over Mario Lesperance at the Worl Amateur Boxing Championship.
Ramirez, who beat Cuba's 1980 Moscow Olympic silver medalist Hipolito Ramos in a preliminary bout on Wednesday, was in devastating form again in his second series contest.
The southpaw relied mainly on swift left jabs to keep the tall American back-pedalling throughout the first round. In the second round Ramirez stepped up the tempo and Lesperance, at 17 the youngest fighter in the American squad, was compelled to take two compulsory eight counts.
Lesperance tried to wrest the initiative in the final round, but only found himself in further trouble Ramirez repeatedly slipped under his guard.
North Korean Yong Hwan Go, a surprise winner over Soviet olympic champion Shamil Sabirov in a preliminary fight, continued his winning ways against Colombia's Ismaldi Pindeda when the tournament opened last Tuesday.
Fighting with an almost scholarly detachment, Whitaker extended a long right arm from the first bell and solemnly blocked Pindeda's abortive attacks.
When Pindeda did manage to dodge Whitaker's outstretched fist, the American ducked or simply ran away. He picked up the points he needed when Pindeda left his guard open in frustration, allowing Whitaker to score with swift right jabs.
Those tactics won the American a unanimous points decision. But it was not clear whether they would be so successful against Nigeria's confident and aggressive Christopher Ossai.
Ossai, a superior fighter to Pineda, made it clear yesterday he had never encountered anyone like will-o-the-wisp Whitaker. And he also paid the price.
The American gave an extraordinary display of non-contact boxing as he ducked, swayed, weaved and back-pedalled away from the bemused Ossai.
Twice Whitaker ducked so low that he fell in a tangle of legs and arms and the fith had to be stopped while he calmly resumed his feet.
The moment in which he left an indelible mark on the memories of the spectators late yesterday afternoon came late in the second round.
As he back-tracked from the furiously charging Ossai, Whitaker hit the ropes with such force that he was catapulted straight back past the stratled Ossai.
For one priceless moment Ossai was left flailing at thin air while Whitaker stood behind him watching without a flicker of expression on his face.
In the end of the judges decided Ossai had landed even fewer punches than Whitaker, who had slipped in a few right uppercuts on the night to Taiwan's flyweight Chen Chiann-Chyan. He was counted out after only 57 seconds of his encounter with Italy's Damiano Lauretta. Chen had hardly thrown a punch when Lauretta caught him with a blow to the lower abdomen. The diminutive Taiwan boxer slumped to the floor in agony unable to continue.
Armando Martinez, Cuba's olympic light-middleweight champion, ended the losing sequence for Moscow gold. Despite looking a little raw Comas strung together some solid combinations. Two young Turkish boxers today earned themselves the sort of audience adulation that Muhammad Ali could have expected in his prime. An undistinguished series of preliminary bouts on the third day of the World Amateur Boxing Championship was suddenly enlivened when Turkey's featherweight entrant Fahrir Suemer climbed into the ring. Poland's Zbigniew Ciota. Yong Hwan will meet Ramirez on Monday in what promises to be the most attractive light-flyweight quarter-final clash.
A poker-faced shavenheaded American student is being dubbed the invisible man after two strange but victorious appearances at the World Amateur Boxing Championships.
Pernell Whitaker, 18, first grabbed the audience's attention during his preliminary lightweight bout against rare occasions the pair had exchanged blows, and the American was awarded a 3-2 decision.
The crowd were left in pleasureable anticipation of Whitaker's next appearnace in Monday's quarter-finals. Cuba unveiled another fearsome heavyweight today in 23-year-old Hermeregildo Baez, who knocked Nigeria's Ezekiel Bolaji out cold in their second series bout on the fifth day of the world amateur boxing championships.
