SYDNEY — Clarence Vinson, applying constant pressure, got U.S. boxers off to a winning start Saturday at the Sydney Olympics.
The 5-foot-2 Vinson of Washington, D.C., fell behind 2-1 in the first round, then landed the next eight scoring blows for a 9-2 victory over Rachid Bouaita of France at 119 pounds.
Vinson took a 3-2 lead over the 1996 Olympian after two rounds, then increased his lead over the next two rounds by landing several right hands and a couple of good left hooks.
The only other U.S. boxer scheduled to see action Saturday night was Dante Craig of Cincinnati, who was to box Fadel Showban Showban of Egypt at 147 pounds .
Puerto Rican Orlando Cruz rallied from 10-8 deficit by scoring with a left, then a right in the fourth round. But Cruz lost 11-10 when Hichem Blida of Algeria landed a left in the closing seconds of their 119-pound bout. Cruz knocked out Blida's mouthpiece with a right uppercut in the third round but was not credited with a scoring blow.
For a punch to be scored as a point by the computer, three of the five judges must record it within one second.
In the first bout of the tournament, Alisher Rahimov of Uzbekistan beat Cho Suk-Hwan of South Korea when the referee stopped it at the end of the third round on the 15-point rule. Alisher led 17-1, with the 16th and 17th points being scored just before the bell.