By Jim Litke

updated 10:27 a.m. ET Aug. 26, 2004

ATHENS, Greece - The U.S. boxing team won’t go 0-for-the-Olympics, something that seemed likely just a few days ago.

But as far as good news, that’s about it.

Andre Dirrell beat Cuban Yordani Despaigne to advance to the semifinal Wednesday night after one of the most cautious fights since Fred Sanford and Aunt Esther began circling each other in TV’s “Sanford and Son.” Coupled with Andre Ward’s stunning upset of Russian Evgeny Makarenko a night earlier, that ensured the Americans at least two medals by the time the ring at the Peristeri Olympic Hall closes up for good.

“I feel like a new person,” U.S. coach Basheer Abdullah said, and he wasn’t kidding.

Abdullah was part of the U.S. team at Sydney, the first not to win a gold medal since 1948. The Americans have won at least one medal of some color since boxing became part of the games in 1904 and, for a while there, he was worried about being saddled with a very untidy precedent.

“I feel reborn,” Abdullah said. “I thank these two young athletes for giving me this feeling.”

Meanwhile, the two other traditional Olympic boxing powers, Cuba and Russia, are guaranteed eight and six medals, respectively. Put the breakaway republics from the old Soviet Union back together again, like Humpty Dumpty, and that second number jumps to 15.

The reasons the United States doesn’t turn out boxers like it used to are several and varied.

With money in the pro racket drying up, most of the really promising American youngsters, especially Latinos with crowd-pleasing potential, get picked off by promoters early. Some kids drop out to pursue more lucrative — not to mention less painful — futures in football, basketball and other sports. Still others don’t want to spend time learning the amateur or Olympic style — where scoring often is more important than scoring decisively — considering it a wasted apprenticeship for the pros.

Russia, and Cuba, especially, have stepped into that void. The Cubans continue to recruit long, willowy kids and patiently turn them into accomplished Olympians. Not that the youngsters have a choice. Joel Casamayor was the last great Cuban fighter to defect and that was largely because the bonus he received on returning home from the Olympics was a bicycle (which Casamayor promptly sold to buy a pig, so at least he’d have something to eat).

Either way, it’s hardly a coincidence that in this 72-nation tournament, the Cubans are coaching a dozen teams besides their own.

“They’re all over the world,” Abdullah told the Washington Post last week. “They teach the same style, too. ... Maybe we need to create an alliance with the rest of the boxing world, send coaches all over the world and have people come in for clinics.”

There was a time when the U.S. team needed no allies.

Remember Muhammad Ali in Rome in 1960 (he went by Cassius Clay then), or the 1976 team that produced five golds and some of the most entertaining fighters of the era, beginning with Sugar Ray Leonard? And when the Soviets and Cubans boycotted the 1984 Games, the U.S. team won even more gold and launched the careers of Evander Holyfield and Pernell Whittaker.

Back then, a gold medal brought a fighter endorsements, valuable face time and a promoter willing to invest time and money in the grooming process. Those days are gone, though, likely forever. And because pro boxing is a shrinking enterprise, fewer and fewer of the rewards are trickling down to the Olympic level.

When Abdullah was asked what it would take to return the United States to its former lofty position, he begged off the question, saying, “I’d prefer to concentrate on these two fighters, expend energy on what’s still in front of us.”

Small wonder. They’re all the U.S. team has left.

Dirrell considers himself a pro fighter in style, but if so, he displayed unusual patience and admirable restraint against the long-armed Despaigne. They had split two previous bouts, with Dirrell the aggressor in both. This time, he stayed outside, refusing to give the Cuban the counterpunching opportunities he sought,

Then, with one quick flurry late in the second round, Dirrell turned a deficit into a 6-5 lead, and held on to win 12-11, running away from Despaigne to eat up the final 10 seconds.

“I had my uncles and brothers up in the stands and they’re yelling ’Move, Move.’ I think I heard them with 25 seconds left,” Dirrell said, “and I said to myself, ’I can run for 25 seconds.’ I can’t run for two minutes, but I can run for 25 seconds.”’

The U.S. squad appeared to hit rock bottom a few night back when overweight, overrated super heavyweight Jason Estrada lost Monday night and said afterward his goal was to not get hit because his only real concern was turning pro.

“If I’m going to lose, I’m going to lose getting hit as little as possible,” he said. “I’d rather not get hit at all. I ’ve got a lot more of my life to go.”

It would a miracle if any promoter touched a guy with that kind of attitude. The real shame, though, is that somebody didn’t pick him off before it was too late.

So tell me: Where was Don King when his country really needed him?

MORE FROM BOXING

Boxing Section Front

Boxer Dirrell gets key to Flint, Mich. Ward salvages U.S. team with gold NBCO slide show: Ward's golden win British teen boxing star says no to pros Interactive: Go ringside for boxing NBCO: Inside the sport U.S. medal winners Medal winners U.S. roster Boxing Section Front   Add Boxing headlines to your news reader: