Boxer Neiman loses in opening round

by HILLEL KUTTLER

ATLANTA (July 25) - Israel's sole boxer at the Olympics, Vladislav Neiman, lost Tuesday night in an opening-round 51 kg. bout at Alexander Memorial Coliseum to Bulat Dzumadilov of Kazakhstan.

Dzumadilov scored early with consistent jabs and was never seriously threatened. He is favored by some to win the gold medal.

He and Neiman had not met previously.

Syria's Khalid Falah also advanced into Round 2.

"I had a good left but I was not able to react to his lefts,"Neiman, with a slightly red right cheek, said later. "His punches were not that strong but they counted."

Neiman said his strategy going in was to connect with hooks and not mix it up inside but admitted not many landed until the end of the bout.

By that point, Neiman was behind on points and he and his trainer Valeri Revreba decided before the third and final round to go all-out for a knockout.

"I knew I couldn't beat him on points, only on a knockout," he said. "A punch quick and accurate enough doesn't have to be powerful."

Revreba said Neiman, 30, will likely continue training with a view toward the 2000 Olympics in Sydney but that it is too soon to decide.