Old rivals look to restore golden days

Cuba and the United States will be looking to resume their old boxing dominance at the Olympic Games when the bell rings here on Saturday.

Aside from being a rare chance for the two bitter ideological enemies to test each other's superiority in the ring, they both have to restore battered pride which saw them finish without a gold medal at the Beijing Games.

Cuba suffered in Beijing from having several of their brightest hopes defect before the Games took place, although they still took home eight minor medals, while the Americans have fallen a long way since the legendary 1984 squad collected 11 medals of all hues. It was perhaps the best ever assembled as names like Evander Holyfield (who didn't win gold after being controversially disqualified in the semis), Mark Breland, Meldrick Taylor, Virgil Hill and Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whitaker all went on to be world champions after turning professional.

However from the high of that the Americans have slid further and further down the ladder and in terms of gold medals they have just one to show from the past three editions -- present super middleweight world champion Andre Ward's light heavyweight title in 2004.

The veteran of the American team will be 25-year-old flyweight Rau'shee Warren, who is the first US boxer to qualify for three Olympics and will be dearly hoping to make it past the first round for the first time. Jose Ramirez, who is odds on to bring the United States their first gold at this weight since the legendary Oscar de la Hoya did in Barcelona in 1992. AFP