1.   American boxers will skip the ceremonies, opting to sleep in to be fresh for bouts Saturday.

2.   But last year it declined to award the American boxer Roy Jones Jr. a gold medal despite an apparent case of rigged judging at those Games.

3.   Casamayor surely remembered that four years ago, De La Hoya, a lightweight, was the only American boxer to win gold in Barcelona.

4.   Five American boxers may have to beat Cuban fighters before the medal rounds, including three who are scheduled to face their Cuban counterparts in the first two rounds.

5.   Jermain Taylor, an auto mechanic from Little Rock, Ark., knocked down his Bulgarian opponent with a crunching right and became the eighth American boxer to advance.

6.   Not only does he like fighting here, but Tszyu also fights like an American boxer.

7.   One American boxer demonstrated force.

8.   Such doubt will dog Hamed until he stands up to the likes of Kelley, Jones, and the best of the other lighter-weight American boxers.

9.   The losses mean the U.S. team will not match its medal total in Atlanta, where American boxers won one gold and five bronze medals.

10.   Usually, American boxers would not need either a visa or a work permit to come into Britain for a fight.