By Gil LeBreton
glebreton@star-telegram.com
LONDON -- Nearly four hours after DeSoto's Errol Spence Jr. thought he had lost a questionable, two-point decision to India's Krishan Vikas on Friday night, Spence discovered that he truly had won the bout.
Just another day in the Olympic boxing office, in other words.
A protest from the USA Boxing camp was upheld, and at 1:30 a.m., London time, long after spectators and most journalists had left the building, Spence was informed that a tournament jury had decided that he was still in the Olympics.
Spence's response, relayed through a USA Boxing spokesman: "I'm going to make the most of this second chance that I've been given. I can't wait to get back into that ring on Tuesday."
Before the decision was made to reverse the original outcome, American men were staring squarely at their worst Olympic boxing finish ever.
Nine boxers up, nine boxers out. No medals.
Now, only Spence remains, and that required an intervention to save him.
As Olympic boxing injustices go, however, Spence's original pocket-pilfering was relatively routine. Vikas scored early with counters and an occasional jab that utilized his long reach. And then, seemingly tiring as he went along, the Indian resorted to bear hugs and waiting for the final bell to sound.
It was the frequent clinches and holding, as well as a Round 2 incident in which Vikas spit out his mouthpiece, that prompted a protest committee to render its decision.
"At least four points should have been awarded to the boxer from the USA," the decision read. "Therefore, the final score should be 13:15 in favor of the USA."
Holy Roy Jones! Somebody in charge has a conscience!
This, however, would not have been a robbery on the scale of Jones' infamous defeat in 1988. In that bout, the declared winner from South Korea was moved to apologize to Jones. The referee also said he was dumbstruck by the decision.
With computer scoring, Olympic boxing is supposed to now be immune to such scandals. But there's still a human element, and a good computer can't erase the mistakes of an incompetent human.
In the minutes after Spence's original decision, both U.S. coaches, Basheer Abdullah and assistant Charles Leverette, had complained about the inherent biases and incompetencies that plague their sport.
"I don't think it's the system," Abdullah said. "I think it's the people that operate the system. If we don't hold our lead officials at every level accountable, it's going to continue.
"You go back to '88 [the Jones fight]. We got a win on paper, but we still got a bad decision."
Abdullah wasn't just dispensing sour grapes. He was bemoaning an amateur boxing system in the United States that breeds conflict and compromises Olympic development.
"The talent is there," Abdullah said. "We have the talent. We just don't have a tactical plan in place.
"We're still trying to win with things that make us successful on the national level. The way you box on the Olympic level is different."
Spence, for his part, admitted he knew this going into his tough second-round bout against the welterweight class' No. 3 seed.
He tried, he said, to play along with the computer scoring system. He thought the first round should have been scored closer than Vikas winning it 4-2.
"Yeah, I thought I scored more than two punches," Spence said. "But I've seen it before. There's nothing you can do."
But, yes, there was, as it turned out. The rules don't allow protests based strictly on the judges' scoring. To lodge a post-fight protest, the protesting party has to show that some sort of rule was broken or ignored.
The competition jury found, "There were a total of nine holding fouls committed by the Indian boxer in the third round alone. However, the referee only gave one caution."
Just another day at the Olympic boxing office, in other words.
"I thought I won the fight," Spence said before the reversal. "I thought I threw more punches and landed more shots, and I thought I was the more aggressive boxer.
"I thought I won, the coaches and the crowd thought I won, too. "
Even referee Lars Brovil thought Spence had won.
As the public address announcer proclaimed the winner, the referee raised Spence's left arm to the sky in victory, only to yank it down quickly and thrust Vikas' arm in the air when the real decision was announced.
Nine U.S. boxers up, eight U.S. boxers down and out of the London Olympics.
But thanks to that rarest of Olympic species, a fair jury, Errol Spence has become the American team's last hope for a men's medal.
His boxing fate, unfortunately, won't entirely be in his own hands. That happens here, history tells us.
Gil LeBreton, 817-390-7697Twitter: @gilebreton
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