Olympics-Boxing-Cuba’s Ramirez wins bantamweight gold

The fighters embraced after the bout in a show of mutual respect, and Ramirez celebrated with a standing backflip in the center of the ring.

Robeisy Ramirez joins an elite list which includes Joel Casamayor, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Felix Savon and Teofilo Stevenson of Cuban boxers to win multiple Olympic gold medals. That was not the case, though. “I like all my fights to be clear victories”, Stevenson said. “I look at it as a loss”.

Before the match even began, boxing analysts had billed the showdown between Stevenson and Ramirez as an instant classic, the first meeting between two boxers who would nearly certainly meet on the professional stage. Stevenson landed a flurry at the bell, but two of the three judges awarded the third to Ramirez. “He did what he had to do and I took my loss”. “I think he’s going to go far in the welterweight division”.

Stevenson is expected to now turn pro and several promoters are very interested in signing him, including Top Rank, which has had remarkable success in building Olympians into professional stars – most notably Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto – and Mayweather Promotions.

Ramirez and Stevenson could be friendly rivals for many years if Ramirez elects to go pro outside Cuba. Shakur has studied up on Robiesy’s fight videos to get prepped and said before the match, “I want that gold medal, it’s going to be a great fight, I promise”.

But it did not seem to help Stevenson as he was edged by fellow southpaw Ramirez.

“I’d love to fight him down the line”.

We’ll note that when a group of reporters heard the young boxer say that, they let out an audible sound of protest before being rendered (momentarily) speechless.

Ramirez, the gold medalist in the flyweight division in London in 2012, came out strong in the first round, winning unanimously.

En route to the silver medal, Stevenson beat Brazil’s Robenilson de Jesus by unanimous decision in Sunday’s round of 16.

The third and final bout of the day pitted the hard-hitting Cuban Arlen Lopez against Uzbekistan’s Bektemir Melikuziev for the Middleweight (75kg) gold, a repeat of the World Championship final in Doha a year ago. Lopez dominated Melikuziev for much of the match, taking the first two rounds unanimously.

The third round was especially cagey and close, although roars went up when Ramirez caught Stevenson with a combination that had him back on the ropes.

The highly entertaining clash of southpaws could have gone either way: official judges Trong Nghia Vuong of Vietnam and Fathi Madfoua of France scored it 29-28 for Ramirez, while Greece’s Evangelos Bougioukas had it 29-28 for the teenager from Newark, New Jersey.