American Eric Griffen spoilt world amateur boxing powerhouse Cuba’s party by lifting the light flyweight crown and preventing them from sweeping all four titles in the MRF world cup championship here Nov 17.

Griffen, a 20yearold computer science student from Texas, added to the world championship title he won in Moscow last year with a facile 388 verdict against Cuban hopeful Orlando Asencio.

Unruffled by Asencio’s failure to unseat Griffen from the pedestal, the other Cubans world champion Enrique Carrion (Bantam), Juan C Lemus (light middle) and world super heavyweight No 1 Roberto Balado had little trouble in reaching their golden targets.

BOMBAY: Cubans moved to within a step of confirming their status as the world’s best amateur boxers, sending in each of their four pugilists into finals in the MRF world cup championship here.

India’s finest ever showing in a world event will bear fruit in the form of the light flyweight bronze medal, with super heavyweight Sarvan jit Singh Sang wan an easy victim for Bulgarian Svilen Russimovy —having little chance of beating Canadian Vernon Link later in the bronze medal box off.

Indian light flyweight hope Dharmendra Singh Yadav, who lost by the proverbial skin of the teeth to Cuban Orlando Asencio in the semifinal, will box off with Compatriot Zoram Thanga, who retired in the third round of his semifinal against world champion Eric Griffin (U.S.A.)

The Bantamweight final will be a repeat of last year’s world championship fight at Moscow between Cuban Enrique Carrion and Serafim Todorov (Bulgaria), the former enjoying the psychological advantage of having won the worId crown.

World light middleweight No.5 Raymond Downey (Canada) against Juan C. Lemus and world super heavyweight No.4 Russimov against champion Roberto Balado will have the enviable tast of attempting to stop the Cubans from sweeping the four titles.

Sarvajit Singh Sangwan fighting his first bout in seven nights of the competition conceded height, reach and more important class to Russimov. There was no chance for the Indian, who spent the last six evenings shouting encouragement for his teammates.

The Bulgarian took a little time to settle down and unleashed powerful left hooks as soon as he gauged that Sangwan had nothing to offer by way of attack. Two standing counts in the first round and a third one early in the second were enough evidence of the yawning difference in skills.

Sangwan threw appealing glances at trainer Anatoly Volkov, who responded by throwing in the towel and unleashed powerful left hooks as soon as he gauged that Sangwan had nothing to offer by way of attack. Two standing counts in the first round and a third ‘one early in the second was enough evidence of the yawning difference in skills.

Sangwan threw appealing glances at trainer Anatoly Volkov, who responded by throwing in the towel to prevent punishment and embarrassment to the Indian.

The towel was to come to Canadian Linklater’s rescue after two hard, punishing rounds against Balado. The 28yearold commonwealth games bronze medalist showed he could stand up to severe punishment in both rounds but decided he had enough, seeking to save his energies for the box off.

Balado made optimum use of his skills to secure the early retirement of Link later, world no4. Blessed with speed, foot ward and technique that will be the envy of boxers of lower weight classes, Balado left his mark as an artiste.

If Balado was the Cuban artiste, his Compatriot Lemus could be termed the Cuban powerhouse. Ranked world no. 3 in welterweight last year, Lemus hammered Norwegian challenger Ole Klemetsen into submission in their light middleweight semifinal.

After sharing honors in the opening round, the Cuban opened up with a striking combination of left hooks and right straights. The Norwegian blond, quarterfinalist in the last world junior championship, was stunned into a standing count in the second round.

Fighting his fourth bout in seven nights, including a taxing quarterfinal against Berk Schenk (West Germany), Klemetsen was unable to get his strong upper cuts working.

When he missed a right upper cut in the third round, Klemetsen had left his guard open for exploitation. Lemus did not wait to land another left hook on the challenger’s face. By the end of the count of eight, the Norwegian’s coach stepped in to stop the contest. Carrion carried far too many guns for Mutaweta and won as facile a verdict as Bulgarian Todotov had done against Irish common wealth champion Wayne McCullough. The Bulgarian, a European titlist, seemed not to exert himself.

Article extracted from this publication >> November 23, 1990