Fresh faces join Cubans in fight for boxing gold

By Patrick Vignal

BEIJING (Reuters) - Several Cubans and a number of new faces will battle for gold in the final weekend of an Olympic boxing competition spiced by upsets and the usual dose of controversy.

Cuba, believed to be vulnerable after a string of defections, made it clear they remained the superpower of amateur boxing by sending eight fighters out of 10 through to Friday's semi-finals.

"Obviously, I will say eight," Cuban coach Pedro Roque said when asked how many golds his team, who came back from the 2004 Athens Games with five, would win in the weekend's finals.

Russia, Cuba's traditional rivals, were the only country to qualify a boxer in all 11 weight classes though have only three left. Britain, France or Ireland have upset the odds by doing just as well, each qualifying three boxers in the semi-finals.

British coach Terry Edwards's pre-Olympics prediction his team could be the new Cuba will not materialize just yet, but he is not complaining after middleweight James DeGale joined light-heavyweight Tony Jeffries and super-heavyweight David Price in the semi-finals.

"The mood in the camp is going to be lovely with three of us through to the semi-finals", DeGale said. "It's just excellent but there is so much more to come from us all."

Ireland are also on a high with middleweight Darren Sutherland, light-heavyweight Kenny Egan and light-flyweight Paddy Barnes already assured of at least a bronze.

"The critics were writing us off," said Sutherland, who will face DeGale on one of the semi-finals' most exciting match-ups.

"We're a small nation and we're definitely punching above our weight," added the Irishman, who described his fight with DeGale as "just business, nothing personal."

The tournament has had its share of controversy with several complaints about the judging including Edwards calling the scoring "absolutely stupid" after bantamweight Joe Murray lost to China's Gu Yu in the first-round.

The International Boxing Association (AIBA), however, said only three protests had been lodged after 239 bouts.

All were dismissed.

"You can't have a major tournament without criticism but I am satisfied that we have so far had the right winner on each occasion," AIBA technical delegate Terry Smith told reporters.

(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)