FLOYD MAYWEATHER'S CONTROVERSIAL LOSS
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 12 Jul 2014
Yes, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. who is scheduled to rematch Argentinian Marcos Maidana on September 13 in Las Vegas, once suffered a controversial loss. But it was during his amateur stint and it occurred during the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
In the first preliminary round, Mayweather dominated Bakhtiyar Tileganov of Kazakhstan, 10-1, when the fight was stopped. In the second round, Mayweather outscored Artur Gevorgyan ofArmenia 16?3. In the quarterfinals, Mayweather, then only 19-years-old, defeated Lorenzo Aragon, 22, of Cuba in an action-packed bout with the slimmest win, 12?11, to become the first U.S boxer to defeat a Cuban in 20 years.
The last time American boxers won over Cubans was in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, when the U.S. Olympic boxing team harvested five gold medals, among the gold medalists was Sugar Ray Leonard.
It was during the Atlanta Games semifinals when he faced Serafim Todorov of Bulgaria, Mayweather lost by a controversial decision, similar to the Roy Jones Jr. defeat in the 1988 Seoul Olympic light-middleweight finals.
Thinking Mayweather had won, Referee Hamad Hafaz Shouman of Egypt erroneously raised Pretty Boy's hand, when the decision was announced in favor of the Bulgarian.
Somrak Kamsing of Thailand outpointed Todorov, 8-5, in the finals to win the featherweight gold medal. He became the first Thai Olympic gold medalist and now fights as a professional Muay Thai kickboxer.
The U.S. team then filed a protest over the questionable Mayweather loss, alleging that the judges were influenced by Bulgaria's Emil Jetchev, the head of the boxing referees and judges, into favoring the Bulgarian with a 10?9 decision in the semifinal encounter.
Three Bulgarians advanced to the final bout in the Atlanta Olympic Games. Daniel Petrov Bugilov won over Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco by another controversial decision in the light-flyweight finals.
One of the four U.S judges working for the International Amateur Boxing Association, Bill Waecke, resigned as Olympic Games and AIBA judge after Mayweather lost the decision with defeaning boos by the crowd at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum. "I refuse to be part of an organization that continues to conduct its officiating in this manner", Waeckerle wrote in his letter of resignation to AIBA President Anwar Chowdhry.
In the official protest U.S. team manager Gerald Smith said "Mayweather landed punches that were not counted, while Todorov was awarded points without landing a punch." But the decision was not overturned by the boxing officials.
"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."
"Everybody knows Floyd Mayweather is the gold-medal favorite at 57 kilograms. In America, it's known as 125 pounds," Mayweather was quoted by New York Times. "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."
His nickname "Pretty Boy" was given by amateur teammates because he had few scars due to the unique defensive techniques that his father Floyd, Sr. and uncle Roger had taught him.
Mayweather had an amateur record of 84?6 winning the national Golden Gloves championships in 1993 at 106 lbs., in 1994 at 114 lbs. and 1996 at 125 lbs.
His professional record now stands at 46-0 with 26 KO's and he is moving closer to the record of Rocky Marciano of 49-0. Will he break that record or will Floyd suffer his first ever pro loss?
Wait tell he faces Manny Pacquiao.
Photo shows Mayweather reacting to his 1996 Atlanta Olympic loss.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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