* Usyk comes from behind to add to world title
* Italy's Russo has to settle for silver
(Adds quotes, detail)
LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Oleksandr Usyk won Ukraine's
first boxing gold medal of the London Games on Saturday leaving
Italy's Clemente Russo with a second successive heavyweight
silver medal and fans enjoying another jig of joy.
Ukraine dominated last year's world championships, taking
home four gold medals including one for Usyk, as they sought to
muscle their way to the top of the amateur game just as the
famous Klitschko Brothers had done in the professional ranks.
However, Denys Berinchyk failed in the former Soviet state's
first bid for gold, losing to Cuba's Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo
two bouts earlier and more pressure was heaped on Usyk when he
fell behind after the first round.
"We already had a silver and we didn't need another one,"
Usyk told reporters. "I showed what I can do, especially
considering I was behind in the first round, even though I
didn't actually feel any hits from him."
"My coach asked me, 'How strong are the Italian's punches?'
and I said, 'I don't know, I haven't felt any'. He said, 'Just
go back out there and hit him'."
Usyk, who at 190 centimetres (6 feet 3 inches) enjoyed a
nine centimetre height advantage over the Italian, had boxed
cautiously in the opening three minutes and paid the price as
the awkward Russo caught him with some swiping left hands.
Russo, one of the poster boys of the Olympic boxing
governing body's new professional league, may have ridden his
luck to reach Saturday's final but he showed far more guile than
in previous bouts to chalk up a two-point lead.
However, the big Ukrainian opened up in the second round and
showed more of the aggression that saw him thoroughly punish
Bulgaria's Tervel Pulev in the semi-finals to peg back Russo's
advantage and go into the final round level.
With both fighters out on their feet, Usyk, who like team
mate Berinchyk sports one of the oddest haircuts at the
Olympics, delivered some decisive big left hooks in the final
minute to take the contest 14-11.
The mostly shaved do with a lengthy piece of hair left on
top is a traditional Ukrainian number called 'chub', a hairstyle
traditionally worn by Kazaki people from the south of Ukraine,
who are known as good fighters, Berinchyk explained last week.
It was not the only thing that marked the pair out at the
London Games.
Usyk danced his now customary elaborate victory jig - a
Ukrainian 'hopak' dance - w hen the score was announced, adding
an extra spin or two while Berinchyk was understandably more
restrained when he took to the floor after his defeat.
They will likely be celebrating again on Sunday when team
mate and hot lightweight favourite Vasyl Lomachenko fights for
his second Olympic gold in a row.
Losing heavyweight semi-finalists Pulev and Teymur Mammadov
of Azerbaijan were back in the arena on Saturday to collect
their bronze medals as Italian Russo accepted his silver with
regret. "I didn't want silver, I wanted gold," he said.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin and Patrick Johnston; editing by
Michael Holden and Ken Ferris)