Olympics: Saunders Beaten By Classy Cuban

Another day of contentious scoring, another frustrated British boxing hope. The 18-year old welterweight from the Travelers' camp in Welwyn, Billy Joe Saunders, has won over everyone here with his open manner and sublime boxing skills, but struggled today to impress the judges, losing 13-6 to the excellent Cuban, Carlos Banteaux Suarez, in the second round of the Olympic competition. Suarez, who had a bye in the first round, deserved his win, but the controversy persists about inconsistent scoring.

Saunders, while not disputing the overall decision, complained about the methodology of getting there. "The scoring here is so bad for an Olympic Games it is unbelievable. I should have scored six or seven [more] points with body shots. You might as well do fencing if they are going to do that."His chief, and legitimate, grievance was with the inability of the judges to record his attacks that, tactically, were perfect for an opponent who kept his gloves so high. And, as the head coach Terry Edwards reiterated for the umpteenth time here, "When you go behind, you have to chase, and change tactics."

They were mirror images of each other, southpaw Saunders to the orthodox Cuban. Both stood on beautifully balanced feet, waiting for the counter, both held their gloves around their ears, Suarez the more cautious. He pecked and ran to greater effect in round one, running up a 4-1 lead, and there could be no complaint there. Suarez has a peculiar yet eye-catching style, bringing his left down almost on the top of his opponent's forehead, in the bolo-style of the great Cuban of the 1950s, Kid Gavilan.

There was an air of calm in the British corner as the team's joker got down to some serious boxing in the second round. Saunders took the fight to Suarez and had success going outside his guard with right hooks, then below to the ribs, and rocked the Cuban with another hook to level the score. Suarez went on the offensive towards the end of the round and led 5-4.

There was little in it as far as pure boxing skill was concerned; with four minutes left, though, it was now down to concentration and the vagaries of the judges.

Two good left hooks by Saunders at the start of round three failed to register, as Suarez rushed his opponent. The Cuban was hitting straight down the pipe, as Saunders looked for scoring opportunities to the body and around his opponent's flicking lead. This was the round that caused most consternation in the British camp, as one body punch after another went unrewarded on the scoreboard. The officials continued to favor Suarez and he had the comfort of a 9-5 lead going into the final round.

Saunders needed a stoppage to go through and the Cuban did the obvious and ran. Suarez's left-side ribs ought to be aching this morning after the hammering he took, but the judges seemed blissfully unaware of it. Leading by seven points with 30 seconds left, Suarez showboated to the line and Saunders walked disconsolately back to his corner.

Neither boxer nor coach was overly despondent, and keen not to give the impression of whinging. "I'm only 18," Saunders said, "so 2012 is what I'm looking at now. It's been good experience."

Edwards added: "I think Billy did lose the bout, but there has been inconsistency in the scoring here, not just in Billy's bout. Billy got beat by the better man on the day. Billy is a very mature guy and he's going to be awesome. He's awesome now. He never got beat by a mug. He got beat by a quality guy out there, the world No3, who is probably going to win the gold medal."