They didn't go quietly though, complaining that holding cost them one gold medal and bad scoring a second.
Ricardo Williams Jr. of Cincinnati, who had outpointed Diogenes Luna of Cuba 42-41 in a semifinal bout, settled for a silver medal when he lost 27-20 to Abdullaev Mahamadkadyz of Uzbekistan in the 139-pound final.
World champion Rocky Juarez of Houston couldn't get inside enough against a clutching, grabbing Bekzal Sattarkhanov of Kazakstan, and lost 22-14 at 125 pounds.
Protests were filed over both bouts. Officials of the International Amateur Boxing Association indicated they would be heard later in the day.
"Ricardo Williams was scoring and not getting points," said Tom Mustin, head coach of the U.S. team. "Rocky couldn't score because they were holding him."
One IOC member watching the bouts thought the Americans won.
"To me this is a scandal -- the two Americans who lost should not have lost," said Gerhard Heiberg of Norway, an opponent of boxing in the Olympics. "I'm not a favorite of the United States, but this cannot be allowed to stand."
The losses left U.S. boxers with two silver and two bronze medals, two fewer medals than they won in Atlanta four years ago and one more than they got in 1992.
The defeat snapped the 20-year-old Juarez' winning streak at 68 bouts over two years.
"I did all I could do, but it wasn't good enough," Juarez said. "I didn't come here to get the silver medal. I'm disappointed. I think he should have been disqualified."
Gary Toney, U.S. team manager, said Russian referee Stanislav Kirsanov cautioned Sattarkhanov nine times. But he never issued a warning, which would have penalized him points and could have led to a disqualification.
"I have no idea why the referee was allowing it," Toney said.
"How many times do you warn someone before you do something?" said WBA heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, who was disqualified for hitting his opponent after the referee called "stop" in the 178-pound semifinals in 1984 at Los Angeles.
"I got behind early, but I thought I did enough in the last two rounds to win," said Williams, who trailed 10-5 after the second round. "The judges just didn't agree."
Asked if he thought judging cost him a gold, Williams said, "No, he was just better than me. I tried to box him the first two rounds. I thought he'd get tired. I guess I was too far behind."
As to whether the protests would have any effect, Toney said, "Probably not."
The 5-foot-3 Juarez, four inches shorter than his opponent, got hit repeatedly by left hands and trailed 15-4 after two rounds.
Then trailing 17-8 in the third round, Juarez landed five of the next six scoring blows, but Sattakhanov got home two scoring punches in the closing seconds for a 20-13 lead.
Juarez kept charging forward and Sattarkhanov kept wrapping him up in the final round.
Olympic Boxing
