SEOUL, South Korea -- Super heavyweight Riddick Bowe and light middleweight Roy Jones advanced Monday, giving the United State nine boxers in the Olympic quarterfinals.
The United States leads all nations with boxers remaining in the tournament. The Soviets are next with seven. U.S. boxers were 5-0 Monday and are 17-3 for the tournament.
Bowe of Brooklyn, N.Y., stopped Biko Botowamungu of Austria at 2:53 of the second round. Jones of Pensacola, Fla., pounded Michal Franek with left hooks for two standing eight-counts and a 5-0 decision.
Bowe, 21, was the last U.S. boxer to fight. He got into a wild-swinging brawl with Botowamunu, a wrestler on Zaire's team that boycotted the 1976 Olympics.
Bowe caught his opponent with a short right for a standing eight-count in the first round. Breaking from a clinch in the second, Bowe jumped in with a right and hard left that put Botowamungu on his back and out.
In between, Bowe took his share of punches.
'I wanted a quick knockout because we have a pool going, who can get the fastest knockout,' Bowe said.
Bowe said all 12 U.S. boxers put up $100 in the pool. U.S. Coach Ken Adams was irritated when he heard about that at Bowe's post-fight news conference.
'The bet's off now,' Adams said. 'He was doing some dangerous stuff in there. And he got hurt, too.'
Bowe Wednesday meets Peter Hrivnak of Czechoslovakia. Hrivnak stopped Petar Stoimenov of Bulgaria on cuts in the second round Monday night.
Jones Wednesday meets Evgueni Zaitsev of the Soviet Union. It will be the first Olympic meeting between United States and Soviet boxers since Michael Spinks defeated Rufat Riskiev for the middleweight gold medal in 1976.
Jones, nursing a sore right hand, hammered Franek for eight-counts in the first and second rounds. He also opened a cut over Franek's right eye in the second round.
'My father (his trainer, Roy Jones Sr.) taught me that hook,' Jones said. 'It's called a check hook. You check to see if he's there.'
Jones could have called it a Czech hook Monday, because a Czech was on the end of practically every one.
Jones is the youngest U.S. boxer at 19. He battered Franek with left hooks throughout the first round, the first one bringing a standing eight-count with 1:00 left.
Jones, who landed one good right in the first round, opened up with both hands in the second. After snapping several two-handed combinations, Jones retreated and let Franek chase. Whenever Franek came within range, Jones stopped him with left hooks. A hook staggered Franek in the final minute, bringing another eight-count and cutting Franek's right eye.
Jones was a surprise winner over Frank Liles in the Olympic Trials final and repeated that victory in the Box-Off to make the team. He stopped Mtendere Makalamba in the first round in his first Olympic bout.
Earlier Monday, heavyweight Ray Mercer, welterweight Kenneth Gould and bantamweight Kennedy McKinney advanced to the quarterfinals.
Mercer stopped Rudolf Gavenciak of Czechoslovakia in the third round, Gould won a 5-0 decision over Francis Masoe of American Samoa and McKinney won on a walkover when Indian Shahuraj Birajdar withdrew with an arm injury.
On Wednesday, Mercer, of the U.S. Army, meets Luigi Gaudiano of Italy; Gould, of Rockford, Ill., fights Joni Nyman of Finland; and McKinney, of Killeen, Texas, meets Stehen Mwema of Kenya.
Four U.S. boxers fight in the quarterfinals Tuesday. In the morning session (8 p.m. EDT tonight), light flyweight Michael Carbajal of Phoenix meets Canadian Robert Scott Olson and lightweight Romallis Ellis of Ellenwood, Ga., meets Emil Tchuprenski of Bulgaria.
In the evening session (5 a.m. EDT Tuesday), junior welterweight Todd Foster of Great Falls, Mont., fights Grahame Cheney of Australia, and light heavyweight Andrew Maynard of the Fort Colo., Carson U.S. Army base, meets Lajor Eros of Hungary.
