ON
BOXING
A spiritless finish
for Estrada
"No
problem," Estrada said after losing a lopsided 21-7 decision to Cuban
super heavyweight Michel Lopez Nunez at Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall in a
quarterfinal match that assured the winner of at least a bronze medal.
"These things
happen. This is really just the end of this book. No problem. That's just the
way boxing is. I'm not going to really worry about it.
"If I'm going to
lose, I'm going to lose getting hit as little as possible. I'd rather not get
hit at all. This is just one part of my life."
As Estrada continued
to verbally hang himself, US boxing team coach Basheer
Abdullah looked dyspeptic. His eyes glowered and he finally turned his body
away from Estrada and stared in the opposite direction as the two sat within 6
inches of each other at the post-fight news conference. Abdullah never looked
at Estrada again but later ripped into his fighter nearly as harshly as Nunez
had in the first round, when the Cuban drove a straight left into Estrada's
face so forcefully it seemed to convince the Providence native that this whole
medal thing really wasn't as important as it's cracked up to be.
"It disturbs me
what he said," a simmering Abdullah said. "I'm disappointed he had
that type of attitude. If we're going to be competitive at the Olympic Games,
we've got to find a way to bring fighters here who take pride in representing
The evidence of that
was on display when Estrada came down the steps from the ring after becoming
the seventh
While Nunez was
celebrating a victory that took him into the medal rounds, Estrada looked like
a guy who couldn't care less that he had come up empty-handed at the biggest
amateur tournament on earth. Perhaps that's because he, unlike the Cuban and
the fighters from most other countries, knew he wouldn't be empty-handed no
matter what happened.
"Them Cubans
lose, they take away their house," said Estrada's teammate, flyweight Ron
Siler. "It's different for us."
If Mittleman's promises are true, and there's no guarantee of
that after the way Estrada performed, he'll be buying a house while Nunez must
beat Mohammad Aly (honest!) just to get into a gold
medal final that, if it goes right, may allow him to keep his apartment in
Estrada fought just
the way he talked -- without the slightest hint of emotion. He looked like a
man who didn't care about what he had been brought to
Estrada was more than
30 pounds overweight when he got to
Certainly he wasn't
too enthused about things after the opening round because the fight was over in
two minutes. That's all the time Nunez needed to take a 7-1 lead. By then he
had slammed that telling left in Estrada's face, a punch that seemed to make
clear this was not the same guy who lost, 14-6, to Estrada a year ago at the
Pan American Games in
That night everything
about Estrada was different. He was hungry, but not for lunch. He was hungry to
fight and it showed. He weighed, depending on the story, 228 or 235 pounds. He
moved and used his superior hand speed, throwing punches in bunches. Most
importantly, he cared. When the decision was announced, Estrada burst into
tears as he became the first American super heavyweight to win gold in that
competition.
Where that fighter went
only Estrada knows, but he had best find him and do it soon if he plans on
being anything more than a portly punching bag in the professional ranks. At
barely 6 feet tall, his weight of 263-plus pounds was absurd and the staff at
least briefly considered removing him from the team, according to several
sources within USA Boxing, when he arrived in
They brought him here
and hoped for the best and he gave them his worst. He showboated near the end
of a one-sided victory over a kid from
"He tried to
make me come to him but there was no point for me to go out and chase
him," Estrada said. "I fought the way I thought I should fight. I
stuck to the game plan. If you get away from your game plan, you get hit more
and you get hit worse."
If he did stick to
the game plan, that was news to Abdullah, who said he had stressed the
importance of winning the first round and being aggressive to establish both a
tone and a reminder for Nunez of the last time he faced Estrada.
But Nunez and the
Cuban coaching staff had a different approach than the one that failed them a
year ago. Realizing Estrada had an advantage in hand speed, they used Nunez's
height and movement to negate it by boxing rather than rushing in to try and
overwhelm him and getting countered. That put the smaller man in a position
where he had to take a risk and go where he didn't like to be -- at close
range.
The same lack of
discipline that allowed his weight to skyrocket prevented Estrada from doing
that. As he said, he had a plan and he was sticking to it even though it wasn't
working because to change at that point was to go against his nature and demand
of him something he did not want to give.
"They were
aggressive in
"I was very
surprised to see him down 6 points after one round. We continued to fail to
realize the importance of the first round. But you heard Estrada say it. You
heard Rock Allen say it. They're more interested in the pros than in
representing their country. Something's got to change."
Something's got to
change in the way the 
