Columnist Dean Juipe: 2000 boxing team comes under attack

Dean Juipe

Friday, April 5, 2002 | 11:12 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

Things rarely seem worse in retrospect than they did at the time, but I guess there are exceptions.

One would be the United States' 2000 Olympic boxing team.

Two years ago America sent 12 young men to Sydney, Australia, with a glimmer of hope that one or more would emerge with a gold medal. Given the country's commitment and prowess and the hullabaloo that accompanied fighters such as Michael Bennett, Jermain Taylor and Ricardo Williams, it seemed to be a reasonable goal at the time.

But after spending a portion of this week at the Everlast Men's U.S. Championships that conclude Saturday at Caesars Palace, it's apparent that most of us -- be it fans or members of the media -- overestimated that 2000 team's abilities. Either that or we were blind to its many shortcomings.

To hear people tell it today, our last Olympic team not only tarnished America's reputation but will force the 2004 team to produce a gold medal or two to ensure that the country's amateur program remains solvent.

The 2000 team did not provide a gold-medal winner.

"I know all of them and they did about as I expected," said Kenny Weldon, who is now the chairman of USA Boxing's national coaches' committee. "I think most people involved with them thought it was a very weak team."

It's funny that no one really said that at the time, or if they did, it was in hushed tones.

Habitually, we believe anyone on a U.S. Olympic team not only has superb credentials but will compare favorably to the vast majority of their peers from around the world. But that may not have been the case with the boxers we sent Down Under.

"They came through the most confusing period of amateur boxing," Weldon said, attempting to cut the 2000 team a little slack. "They started before computerized scoring, then they had to try and adjust. But they weren't successful at it."

Of the 12 guys on that team, four were reigning USA Boxing champions and five others were former national champions. The significance is that the fellows who will be crowned champions this weekend have the inside track toward making the U.S. team in 2004.

Of course even the most vigilant critic of the 2000 team has to step back for a moment and recreate some perspective. The fighters that comprised that team need not feel ashamed, as they were the best we had at the time.

It's just that the next team has to be better.

And Weldon says it can't help but be.

"None of them have been extremely successful," he said, referring to the fact that each of the 12 from 2000 is now fighting professionally to mixed results. "All of them have been slow to be thought of as world-class fighters."

Yet promoter Lou DiBella paid almost $3 million to sign five of them as they turned pro, so he's certainly hoping for some sort of positive return on his investment.

It remains to be seen if his outlay was money well-spent, or if he simply succumbed to the belief that anyone representing us in the Olympics has to be something of a budding star.

Given what I came across at Caesars this week, there's a feeling that he may have overpaid for mediocrity.