THE BOXER WHO DEFEATED MAYWEATHER DREAM OF A REMATCH
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 30 Dec 2015
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is undefeated at 49-0-0, 26 KOs as a professional boxer. As an amateur fighter he had a record of 84-6 though he was a three-time national Golden Gloves champion. It just shows that in the amateurs a pugilist cannot choose his opponent unlike in the pros.
Serafim Todorov of Bulgaria, now 46 years old, was the last man to defeat Mayweather. It happened in the semifinals of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, Todorov, who was 27 years old during that time, won a controversial decision over Team USA fighter Mayweather.
Todorov won the silver medal as Mayweather settled for the bronze. Now he would love to face the former pound-for-pound king in a rematch as reported by Elisinio Castillo of Boxing Scene.
"I am a realist and I don't mean to say anything harsh for a fight against Floyd," Todorov said. "I would need five months in the gym to prepare for something like that. But I promise you this, it would be very interesting inside those ropes if we ever meet again."
"People saw once again that I am talented. I am able to show much more, but I need a little organization," Todorov was quoted by Medio Tiempo.
Todorov who won three world amateur boxing tournaments, turned professional in 1998 and he retired in 2003 with a 5-1-0 record. He made a comeback five years after, winning a four-round unanimous decision over Aleksandar Chukaleiski, a fellow Bulgarian, in their country.
"I'm starting to find my old form. With each training session I'm better. There is no pressure because I have participated in many international events," explained Todorov.
At the 1996 Olympics quarterfinals, the 19-year-old Mayweather barely defeated 22-year-old Lorenzo Aragon of Cuba in an action-packed match to win 12?11l. He thus become the first American boxer to defeat a Cuban in 20 years. The last time it happened was during the 1976 Montreal Olympics, when the US Olympic boxing team harvested five gold medals and one of them was Sugar Ray Leonard.
In the semifinal bout in Atlanta, Todorov won over Mayweather by a controversial decision similar to what happened to Roy Jones Jr. when he lost by a hometown decision to Korean Park Si Hun in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Referee Hamad Hafaz Shouman of Egypt erroneously raised Mayweather's hand thinking that he was the winner, while the verdict was announced giving the win to Todorov.
Team USA filed a protest on the loss of Mayweather bout, asserting the judges were influenced by Bulgaria's Emil Jetchev, the head of the boxing officials, into favoring Todorov by a narrow 10?9 decision in the featherweight division semifinal bout. Three other Bulagarians entered the bouts.
American boxing judge Bill Waeckerle resigned as Olympic Games and federation judge after Mayweather lost the decision, which received loud boos from the crowd.
U.S. team manager Gerald Smith said Mayweather landed punches that were not counted, while Todorov was awarded points without landing a punch, reported The New York Times.
"The judging was totally incompetent," Waeckerle said. "The judges failed to impose a mandatory two-point deduction against Todorov after he was warned five times by the referee for slapping," according to Rome News -Tribune.
"Everybody knows Floyd Mayweather is the gold-medal favorite at 57 kilograms", Mayweather declared as quoted by The New York Times. "In America, it's known as 125 pounds. You know and I know I wasn't getting hit. They say he's the world champion. Now you all know who the real world champion is."
Top photo shows the referee mistakenly raised the hand of Floyd Mayweather when, in fact, Serafim Todorov won their semifinals bout at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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