My Olympic marathon - via the telly by British Boxing Aug 31st 2008

A writer new to BABN, Martin Supple, takes us through his Olympian test of endurance. After two weeks, 272 bouts, and three British medals I've taken time to reflect on the 2008 Olympic boxing tournament. Watching almost the entire tournament via BBC interactive 'red button', British medals aside, I found it to be extremely disappointing. As a hardcore fan of professional boxing, the amateur code seems so diluted and devoid of actual fighting. Many articles have been written surrounding the scoring system, which is entirely geared toward rewarding single head shots (even if delivered illegally with the inside of the glove). Only the cleanest of body punches were scored, and even then sporadically. Bouts can be 'stolen' rather than won. I did not, however, share concerns over the actual integrity of the judging. It seemed to be consistently poor if that makes sense - without favouring one fighter. I found myself frustrated at seeing apparent apathy from experienced boxers. "What are you doing? This is the Olympics," I would say to no-one in particular as yet another Olympic, world or European amateur champion meekly lost. The result was not pleasing as a spectacle. Pot-shotting fighters with a lead of several points would run, sometimes for the final two rounds without attempting to score. Boxers' priority became eating up the clock. Hesitancy to fight was evident. A lack of assertiveness was evident. The most high-profile incident of this nature was undoubtedly the sight of flyweight gold-medal favourite Rau'shee Warren of the USA running from his opponent when he actually needed to score a point to stay in the competition. The low scoring meant many bouts were winnable had the eventual loser shown a little more belief and desire. A notable exception was Felix Diaz of the Dominican Republic who saw his lifetime's opportunity and seized it with both fists. Knowing he had little chance against reigning light-welterweight Olympic champion Manus Boonjumnong of Thailand, Diaz launched into a Kiko Martinez-style all out assault in round three. Catching the Thai napping, Diaz left him for dead on the scoreboard. He took a gamble and won. His assertiveness rewarded with Olympic gold. In contrast I wonder how, say, Kenny Egan feels knowing his chance at glory has now passed him by. One of the best fights in Olympic history - the Sydney 2000 63.5kg semi final between Ricardo Williams and Diogenes Luna - finished in a computer score of 42-41 to Williams. Impossible in these games. Team USA was alarmingly poor. A return of one bronze medal will cause shockwaves and recriminations through the American system. Rumours were already rife of a lack of respect within the camp for team coach Dan Campbell, notwithstanding elimination after elimination doing zero for team morale. I was too young to vividly recall the all-conquering US team of 1984, but was a fully fledged KO Magazine-purchasing teenager when the US sent their team to Seoul in 1988. That team weren't too shabby either - gold medals for Kennedy McKinney, Andrew Maynard and Ray Mercer. Silver for Michael Carbajal, Roy Jones (!) and Riddick Bowe. Five of those six went on to have successful world championship professional careers. This US team will struggle to feed the pro game with any real stars of the future. Warren and Demetrius Andrade may make the grade, but the rest of the team was mediocre to put it kindly. My comments around amateur boxing being watered-down is backed up with some numbers- 134 stoppages were registered in 1988. In Beijing a mere 19 bouts ended early. Admittedly there were over 430 bouts in Seoul (remember the two boxing rings, one with a buzzer and one with a bell?), but this still equates to nearly one in three bouts won by stoppage. That number is down to around one in 14 for the Beijing games. Partial explanation will be the rigorous qualification procedure endured these days. However, this dramatic shift can also be attributed to placing less focus on fluid powerful combination boxing, the emphasis on tactical single punch point scoring. The Cuban team seemed stylish without being exceptional but failed when it mattered in the gold medal bouts. They did not have the wizardry of previous champions Yan Barthelemy, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Guillermo Rigondeaux or Mario Kindelan in their ranks. Inexperience cost them, and frustration boiled over into desperation when, getting outboxed, Emilio Correa sank his teeth into James Degale in the middleweight final. The games marked the first time since 1968 that Cuba returned from an Olympic boxing tournament without a gold medal (Cuba boycotted in both 1984 and 1988). Their silver medal haul will come as a disappointment to a nation whose Olympic currency is gold only. Great Britain's return of a gold and two bronze medals was terrific. James Degale grew in confidence with each bout and appears a man who performs better under pressure. David Price's excellent stoppage in his first fight should outweigh his disappointment at the manner of his semi-final defeat, and he can look at his bronze medal with pride. Tony Jeffries over-achieved by bringing a medal home and compensated for the Saunders boys who were expected to be real medal contenders. Billy Joe especially looked superb in his opening bout before elimination. It is doubtful team GB will have any of the current faces still there in 2012, but what a turnaround from Athens where Amir Khan was our sole representative. The haul represents six GB medals in the last two major boxing championships - all by different fighters. Throughout the fortnight I couldn't help feeling the BBC coverage missed an opportunity. Jim Neilly and Richie Woodhall called the action, but that is just the point. That's all they did. If the viewer, and especially boxing fan, is watching sometimes six hours a day of their coverage, the broadcast team should ensure their commentary is engaging as well as informative. Having met him, I can say Richie Woodhall is every bit as nice a guy as he appears on TV. He is also an Olympic bronze medallist and former WBC world super-middleweight champion. He has fought Roy Jones and Joe Calzaghe. He has experienced Seoul 1988 and lived the Olympic life. He has fought an American for a world title in the US. Richie is modest about his achievements and needed Jim Neilly to bring this out; bring some colour to their commentary. We wanted to hear what the fighters were experiencing in the Olympic village. How do they interact with fighters from other countries? Any interesting or amusing stories coming from Beijing? What were Richie's recollections of 1988? How does it feel getting a medal? How would the boxers occupy their time between bouts? We actually got blow-by-blow and technical analysis with nothing else. Nothing to keep us going during some awful negativity shown throughout the tournament. I remember Eurosport had a double act of Steve Holdsworth and the late Jim Brady commentating on the Atlanta games of 1996. They spiced up the broadcast knowing they were commentating for dozens of hours and brought humour, honesty, human interest stories and scathing opinion to their coverage. A must for those long prelim sessions. I suppose we should be thankful for the BBCi coverage. After all, at least every fight was shown. But "get behind the jab" becomes a little repetitive by bout number nine, with another 263 to go. I'm sure Jim and Richie would have had some extra latitude to express controversial opinions and views as the coverage was mostly on BBCi rather than mainstream BBC1 or BBC2. So my own personal Olympic television marathon is over. I'm not sure whether four years is long enough to get into shape to do it all over again in 2012.

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