TOKYO — The United States claimed two medals in boxing on the last day of the Olympics as the lightweight Keyshawn Davis and Richard Torrez Jr., a super heavyweight, both earned silver medals.
While the Americans have not secured a gold medal in boxing since the Athens Games in 2004, the two silver medals on Sunday, plus a silver won by Duke Ragan and a bronze collected by Oshae Jones earlier in the tournament, were an improvement for America’s boxing program: The four medals meant this was the most successful Olympic Games for the United States since 2000.
In the first fight, Davis tried to topple Cuba’s Andy Cruz, a two-time world champion who had beaten Davis in all three of their previous meetings. It was a steep task, particularly because Davis was unseeded and because he had to fight five times instead of four.
Both fighters looked determined at the outset, particularly Davis, who danced into the ring as chants of “U.S.A.” rang out from his supporters in upper deck.
While Davis looked for an opening to attack, Cruz landed several solid blows, helping him win the opening round, 4-1. In the second round, Davis came out as the aggressor trying to make up ground, a strategy that paid dividends in the second half of the round. Four of the five judges had the two fighters tied, while the Moroccan judge awarded the round to Davis.
In the third and final round, though, Cruz took control. He won four of the five cards to secure the gold medal.
In the 276th and final bout of the Tokyo Games, the 22-year-old Torrez took on top-seeded Bakhodir Jalolov of Uzbekistan. At 6 feet 2 inches, Torrez was five inches shorter than Jalolov, and from the outset he tried to duck and bob to force the larger Jalolov to punch down. The plan worked initially, as Torrez was able to get to an exposed Jalolov and win the round, 3-2.
In the second round, Jalolov used his long reach to pummel Torrez, who sustained a cut above his left eye. In the third round, Jalolov landed several devastating hooks on Torrez, who by that point was struggling to mount any counter attack. In the end, Jalolov won a unanimous decision.
Torrez had been hoping to become the first super heavyweight Olympic Champion since 1984. Instead, he became only the third American super heavyweight to win a medal of any kind.
The bouts at the Kokugikan, the country’s premier sumo venue, were among the last chances for the Americans to overtake China in the race to claim to the most gold medals. Before the last four fights began at 2 p.m. local time, the United States and China had each won 38 golds.
Earlier in the day, the U.S. women’s basketball team beat Japan to win its seventh straight Olympic gold medal, while the American cyclist Jennifer Valente won another gold in track cycling.
Sandwiched between Davis and Torrez’s fights was the women’s middleweight gold medal bout between Lauren Price of Great Britain and Li Qian of China, China’s last chance for a gold. Price won.
The boxing tournament was held against the backdrop of ongoing drama at the International Boxing Federation, or AIBA, which has been embroiled in numerous scandals well before the pandemic. Frustrated by the organization’s lagging pace of reform, the International Olympic Committee in 2019 suspended the organization because it failed to adequately address judging problems, ethics violations and allegations of corruption in the organization’s top ranks.
The I.O.C. created a task force to run the qualifying events and the tournament in Tokyo. Morinari Watanabe, the chairman of the task force, sent officials at AIBA a fresh warning last week.
“I will say for the future of boxing, if they do an injustice, it is done,” he told reporters. “If they do it the right way, there is bright future for the boxing.”
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