By Gil LeBreton
glebreton@star-telegram.com
LONDON -- He was America's last boxing hope in this Olympic tournament, and that says a lot not only about Errol Spence's heart and talent but, unfortunately, it also says way too much about USA Boxing.
Spence's last fight as an amateur ended quietly and with neither fanfare nor protests Tuesday night.
With a chance for at least a bronze medal in the welterweight division in the balance, Spence was out-boxed, out-maneuvered and eventually out-scored 16-11 by Russia's Andrey Zamkovoy.
The classy Spence, who's from DeSoto, took the defeat in his usual stride.
"I started a little bit slow," he said. "I could have started a little bit faster. But overall he's a good fighter. We're kind of familiar with each other because we fought in March.
"He was just the better man today."
Spence's elimination extinguished the U.S. men's last hope for a boxing medal. USA Boxing brought nine fighters to the London Games, and all nine have now been eliminated before the first medal has been handed out.
That's never happened before.
It was 36 years ago that U.S. boxing was at the top of the Olympic world. On one memorable night in Montreal, six Americans fought for a gold medal, and five won.
This 2012 team, meanwhile, was cut and pasted into a USA uniform, told to listen to a new coaching voice, and then thrust into the ring against the savvy international likes of Zamkovoy and Great Britain's Freddie Evans.
And that's been a problem here, said Spence, who was merely answering reporters' questions, not pointing fingers.
"I think we need more international fights early," Spence said. "We need a better, earlier program. We can't rush into things like we did, and we need to get the coaches earlier, instead of when we did."
Spence wondered aloud why U.S. officials don't seek the advice of former Olympic champions. At least the ex-amateurs know how it feels to climb into the ring against an experienced international opponent.
All too often, American boxers seemed to wait too long to ease into the fight, and they quickly find themselves trailing. And with the bouts only three rounds, the early deficit could not be made up.
Zamkovoy carved an early 4-3 lead, and Spence was unable to reverse the damage.
"They told me that I needed to throw more punches and stop waiting for him to throw," Spence recalled his corner saying before the start of the third round.
He tried. But Zamkovoy was still fighting, still looking for points, in the middle of the final round.
"It took me a little while to feel him out," Spence said. "Usually in all my fights, I start real slow and feel my opponents out. But today it kind of hurt me."
The Russian fighter had a 9-7 lead after two periods, and he widened the margin with a few scattered aggressive flurries in the third.
Spence was asked whether he felt Tuesday's loss was doubly disappointing after the second chance he had been given by last week's decision reversal.
"It doesn't make it more difficult," he said. "I thought I won the fight the other night, so it wasn't difficult.
"I was really disappointed at first that I left the tournament the way I did," Spence said. "But having a guy be better than me tonight is not a disappointment. He was just the better man, and I'd rather go out like that than how I did against the Indian boxer."
For Spence, a professional boxing career awaits. It's time to move on from the discombobulated world of USA Boxing. He said he looked forward to helping the 2016 U.S. team, if he's asked.
Spence's humble departure from the Olympics welterweight bracket made it a clean sweep of futility for the U.S. coaches.
Nine boxers. Nine eliminated, before a single medal could be distributed.
It speaks volumes.
Gil LeBreton, 817-390-7697Twitter: @gilebreton
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