From start to finish, it was a disappointing Olympic Games for the U.S. boxing team, and when it's all said and done, only one boxer -- heavyweight Deontay Wilder, who won a bronze -- will bring home a medal.
The 6-foot-7, 200-pound Wilder should be proud of his effort, and he represents a very rare thing in the United States: A big, athletic guy who decided to be a boxer instead of a football or basketball player. I don't think he's ever going to be heavyweight champion of the world, but we're a country with so few good heavyweights that we have to be pleased by what Wilder accomplished.
But the U.S. had several boxers other than Wilder who expected to bring home medals, including 112-pounder Rau'shee Warren, 119-pounder Gary Russell Jr., and 152-pounder Demetrius Andrade. They all come home empty handed.
Bad judging and rules changes have made Olympic boxing a much less compelling sport than it once was, but as long as it's an Olympic sport at all, it would be nice to see the U.S. field a competitive team. It didn't happen this year.
