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Savon avenges 1997 loss

Cuban Felix Savon defeated Ruslam Chagaev of Uzbekistan in the ring this time.

The last time Savon, a six-time World heavyweight champion, faced Chagaev was two years ago, when Chagaev dealt Savon his first World Championships loss since 1986.

But after the bout, it was discovered that Chagaev had violated international amateur boxing rules by signing a professional boxing contract. His gold medal was taken away and awarded to Savon.

Following a two-year suspension for the violation, Chagaev returned to this year's championships looking to repeat his feat from 1997.

This time, though, Savon walked away with the decision by a convincing 9-1 margin.

The two heavyweights scored a point apiece in the first round but after that it was all Savon. The Cuban outscored Chagaev 8-0 over the final three rounds to advance the semi-finals.

Gurcharan Singh of India was beaten by John Dovi of France 8-4 in the light heavyweight category (178/81).

Romania vaulted into the medals chase after all seven Romanian boxers recorded victories yesterday. The Cubans, with five, and Russia and the United States were the only other teams with at least four victories.

The United States team was 4-2 on the day. France, Italy and Kazakhstan had three wins while Germany, Uzbekistan, Thailand, Italy and Turkey posted two each.

The Cubans came into the quarter-finals leading the team standings with nine boxers still in the tournament, but bantamweight Waldemar Font, the 1997 World championships silver medalist, was upset by Benoit Gaudet of France.

''I stayed away from his jab and was able to fight my fight,'' said Gaudet, who took a 4-3 decision to advance to the semi-finals. ''I've been training very hard for this tournament. This was a tough one, and they won't get any easier.''

Gaudet's teammate didn't fare as well. Light flyweight Brahim Asloum was defeated by American Brian Viloria in one of the closest matches of the day.

Viloria, 18, has been boxing at the senior level for only two years, and now finds himself in the semi-finals of the 1999 World Championships, assured of at least a bronze medal.

''This was one of the toughest bouts that I have had,'' said Viloria. ''His defence was so tight that it was really hard to score anything on him.''

Viloria trailed 2-0 after one round and 3-1 entering the final round.

''I knew that I was down and that I had to let it all hang out in the last round to be able to walk away victorious,'' Viloria said.

With less than a minute remaining, Viloria was able to catch Asloum with his guard down by going to the body and then landing two shots to the head, evening the score 3-3. Viloria narrowly walked away with the win on a tie-breaker.

"I never pictured myself in this position,'' Viloria said. ''I have been training very hard for this and the coaches have done a great job by keeping us in shape and giving us good advice. I guess that this is my payback to my coaches and hopefully I can go on to the gold.''

The Cubans suffered two setbacks in the evening session. Light heavyweight Humberto Savigne fell to Michael Simms jr, the U.S. Gold Gloves champion, by a score of 5-1 and super heavyweight Alexis Rubalcaba was beaten by Paola Vidoz of Italy.

In other quarter-final action Zakhid Mekhtsiyeu of Belarus outpointed Clarence Vinson of the United States in a bantamweight bout and Aleksan Nalbandian, the 1998 Goodwill Games light flyweight silver medalist, defeated Jose Valera of Venezuela.

Light flyweight Maikro Romero of Cuba -- the 1996 Olympic, 1997 World championships and 1998 Goodwill Games winner -- eliminated 1998 European championships bronze medalist Pat Lakatos of Hungary 11-1.

Lightweight Mario Kindelan, the 1998 Goodwill Games champion, beat Pongsit Wiangwisas of Thailand 8-2.

Austria's Adrian Sutue dropped a 10-2 decision to Cuba's Juan Hernandez in a welterweight match and Germany's Steffen Kratschmann blanked Romans Kuklins of Latvia in a heavyweight bout.

The Romanian team sent seven boxers to the semi-finals after posting a perfect 7-0 record during the two sessions. Flyweight Cucereanu Waldenmar downed 1998 European champion Volodymyr Sydorernko of The Ukraine 6-2. All of the Romanian victories were decisive.

UNI