Expect Unexpected at 2012 Games

Opening ceremonies for the 2012 Olympic Games are today, and 20 years from now people will be remembering something from the London Games.

Between the beginning, today, and end, Aug. 12, expect something riveting, though we have no way of predicting what that moment will be. 

"It offers something unexpected," said Steve Marantz of Swampscott.

The author, former Boston Globe boxing writer and researcher with the ESPN sports stories show E:60, reeled off a series of events and images that will forever mark previous Olympics for him.

There is the Leap of the Century, a world-record shattering long jump by Bob Beaman at the Mexico City Games in 1968.

There is the raised fists of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, also at the 1968 Games.

There is the spectacle of the Olympic Games in Beijing, and China entering the  world community.

The Olympics have brought protests and boycotts, attacks and tragedy.

But they have also brought wonderful moments of sportsmanship and competition and amazing athletic feats.

For some Olympic fans of a certain age, boxing matches and basketball games continue to capture their imagination.

Boxing, in particular, offers a special appeal for many who tend to cheer for the underdog.

There is that slugger’s chance that all boxers have of triumphing in the ring.

It is also a sport in which small countries can compete in a big way, Marantz said. Take Cuba, for instance. A tiny island nation with few resources. Yet it has turned out a line of Olympic champions.

Marantz recognizes that boxing no longer has the wide appeal it once did. 

The heyday fpr Olympic boxing was perhaps the 1970s and 1980s.

The United States Olympic teams of 1976 and 1984 had numerous fighters who captured medals. Many went on to the professional ranks including Sugar Ray Leonard, Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks, Howard Davis, Pernell Whitaker, Evander Holyfield and Tyrell Biggs.

The 1992 team had Oscar De La Hoya.

And any mention boxing, of U.S. Olympic boxing, brings to mind Muhammad Ali, who, as Cassius Clay, won the 1960 gold medal, and as Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic Cauldron in the 1996 Atlanta Games.

For the 2012 Games, the American team has qualified nine fighters, boxers in all but one weight division. Only Australia qualified more boxers.

Perhaps the most compelling story is that of flyweight — 112-pounds —  Rau'shee

Warren. He is 25 years old and will be the only American to box in three Olympics.

The Cincinnati, Ohio native lost in the first round of the 2004 Games against a

favorite from China, and lost on a controversial decision in 2008.

These games also are the first that will offer women's boxing.

There are three weight divisions: 112, 132 and 165.

The United States has qualified a boxer in each division.

Our best chance for a medal is 28-year-old Queen Underwood of Seattle, WA, he

said.

Marantz will be rooting for the American men and women fighters.

"I hope the American women bring home a medal," he said.

He said he has always thought American women are the toughest in the world.

"At least the one I married," he said.

That is Alison Arnett, the former restaurant critic for the Boston Globe.

"She is really tough on chefs," he said.

Marantz has written two books about sports, one of which, The Rhythm Boys of

Omaha Central," is in the history curriculum at his old high school, Omaha Central. 

His book, Sorcery at Caesars: Sugar Ray's Marvelous Fight, about the epic fight

between Sugar Ray Leonard and New England's Marvin Hagler, is available at

Spirit of '76 bookstore in Swampscott.