Montell Griffin`s dream of amateur boxing glory ended in an amateur nightmare Tuesday.
The kid from Chicago who had to threaten to sue to get into the Olympic Games dreamed he beat up a world champion from Germany. He dreamed he took the light heavyweight (178-pound) quarterfinal fight to an ultra-defensive Torsten May. He dreamed he could make up the eight-inch height difference with his heart. He dreamed he opened a huge cut above May`s eye with 2 minutes 6 seconds left in the third and final round.
Clapping his gloves together, Griffin pointed and shouted, ”Yeah, yeah.”
Then he woke up.
With a minute left, referee Osval Bisbal of Argentina gave May three points because Griffin was ”ducking,” and May won the fight, 6-4.
”I can`t believe it,” Griffin said. ”I can`t believe I was one fight away from a medal after all I`ve gone through, and now I`m going home.”
Griffin jumped through the ropes upon hearing the decision and raced past coach Joe Byrd and out of the small arena where the United States` boxing fortunes rapidly are disintegrating.
Byrd couldn`t believe it either. Both fighter and coach thought the fight should have been stopped after May was so badly cut over his right eye that the whole side of his face gushed red.
Instead of stopping the fight, the referee turned to the ring doctor, who just happened to be Cuban. This was more coincidence than Byrd could take.
”Whoever assigned a Cuban doctor made a heck of a mistake. The next round, they fight a Cuban. Of course he`s going to let him (May) go on,” Byrd said.
Sure enough, 1991 world champion May was scheduled to fight Cuba`s Angel Espinosa until Espinosa was upset by Poland`s Wojciech Bartnik in the next fight.
Griffin`s loss followed losses by two other fighters-156-pounder Raul Marquez and super heavyweight (plus-201) Larry Donald-on Tuesday that left the U.S. with only three sure medal-winners. Oscar De La Hoya (132), Tim Austin
(112) and Chris Byrd (147) are in the semifinals, assuring themselves of at least bronze. It will be the lowest medal count for U.S. Olympic boxers since 1956. Cuba has nine boxers left.
Byrd said the latest controversial decision involving a Griffin reinforced his opinion ”these small countries just laugh at us” when it comes to applying the rules. Top medal hope Eric Griffin was eliminated Saturday in a disputed decision despite a new scoring system that was supposed to take much of the subjectivity out of this Olympic sport.
After the doctor allowed Montell Griffin`s fight to continue, Byrd said the referee ”got nervous.”
”He thought it was a butt. If he hadn`t got cut, he wouldn`t have called anything,” Byrd said.
Griffin and Byrd said Griffin caught May with a jab, not a head butt, to cause the cut. It appeared to be caused by the German-made headgear that has been blamed for similar cuts on other fighters.
At any rate, the three-point addition to May`s score doubled the number of punches May had landed in a fight so defensive the two men might as well have been figure skating.
After the first round, it was scoreless, and after two rounds, it was 1-all. Griffin knew he was in trouble going into the fight because he is listed at 5 feet 8 inches and says he`s 5-7. May is listed at 6-4, and Griffin said he is 6-5. But at least Griffin tried to reach May, who responded by doing almost nothing except grabbing.
”Ten inches. I outjabbed the big man,” Griffin said.
Griffin said he was warned for ducking in the second round but didn`t think he was in danger of giving up points because other fighters have received more than one warning. A fighter cannot lead with his head ahead of his gloves, but Byrd thought it was a particularly silly interpretation in this case.
”No way you can box a tall guy without putting your head in his chest,” said Byrd. ”If he wanted to warn him (Griffin), he should have started when he went in the ring.”
Byrd said there is no grounds for appeal, so Griffin`s unlikely route from Chicago`s Simeon High School into the Olympics ends on a more unlikely note. A latecomer to boxing because his mother forbade him following in his late father`s footsteps, Griffin, 22, was overlooked by USA Boxing after losing to Jeremy Williams in the Olympic Trials. Uninvited to the boxoffs that determine the final team, he hired a lawyer and threatened to sue, then beat Williams twice and ”most noteworthy opponent” Terry McGroom once to fight his way to Barcelona.
”The last month, I`ve been fighting all these emotions, up and down,”
Griffin said. ”I gave it 100 percent. Nobody questions my heart.”
