Olympics Rio 2016: Cuba's Ramirez wins thrilling bantamweight gold medal bout
ByReuters
Updated 20/08/2016 at 19:06 GMT
Cuba's Robeisy Ramirez beat American Shakur Stevenson on a 2-1 split decision to add the Olympic bantamweight boxing title to his 2012 flyweight gold medal on Saturday.
Robeisy Eloy Ramirez Carrazana (CUB) of Cuba gestures in bantamweight boxing Rio Olympics 2016
Image credit: Reuters
The defeat ended U.S. hopes of a first men's champion since 2004 and left 19-year-old Stevenson distraught at the loss.
The gold was Cuba's second of the boxing tournament after Julio Cesar La Cruz secured the light-heavyweight title on Thursday.
And Robeisy, whose path to the Games was far more circuitous than Stevenson's with the 22-year-old Cuban having to travel to Azerbaijan in June to qualify after failing to secure a slot in the Americas, showed his pedigree and craft.
The American left the ring and avoided the media to crouch, sobbing, with a towel over his head at the most stinging loss of his blossoming career.
"He's not distraught by the decision, just distraught by his loss," U.S. coach Billy Walsh told Reuters. "This kid has very seldom lost in his life, he's been youth Olympic champion and he's won everything.
"It's hard for him to take, to be on the other end of a defeat, especially in the Olympic final."
Robeisy won the first round but lost the second to go into the third with the scores level.
The three scorecards that counted had him winning the third 10-9 10-9 9-10.
Walsh said Stevenson had fallen short on work rate.
"He had good tactics, he was working well and just needed to throw more punches and when his opponent attacked he needed to meet him," he said. "He didn't do that, he backed off.
"It's the second time he (Ramirez) has won at a different weight division so he's an exceptionally talented boxer and it was a big ask. It was a man against a boy," said Walsh.
Russia's Vladimir Nikitin and Uzbekistan's Murodjon Akhmadaliev took the bronze medals.
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