For the Toy Store Bandit this was always going to be a difficult game of soldiers. Nothing comes free or gift wrapped when you fight the Cubans. Thus the peerless, magisterial Felix Savon of Cuba dismissed Michael Bennett at the quarter-final stages of the Olympic heavyweight competition at Darling Harbour, Sydney yesterday.

Job done, Savon gave a little flurry of air punches to each corner of the arena, whirled and offered a blurring of fists to the camera and then swished out in his gown. The kid would have made millions if he'd been allowed suffer the pro game. He can punch, he can defend, he can showboat. For Bennett, who spent seven years in prison for his part in a heist in the Chicago branch of the Toys `r' Us chain, this was the last stop on a journey which began when he learned to box within the Illinois State correctional system. However, nothing he encountered in his first 10 bouts behind bars could compare with the regal Savon. Bennett brought his heart and his guts to the party, Savon brought his experience and his craft. It was the marque bout of the Games and a conclusion to unfinished business. Savon had pulled out of the World Championship final in Houston last year in a dispute over judging.

Pity. He might have provided poor Bennett with some warning. The Cuban moved around with feline efficiency, pawing Bennett whenever he felt like it, moving away when necessary. The American lagged behind 17-6 on points after two rounds and Savon cruised on to secure the winning 15-point margin three seconds before the end of the third round to advance to the semi-finals. Under the Olympic "mercy" rule, a 15-point gap ends the bout.

Savon had secured a 23-8 advantage when the referee stopped the fight. He moves serenely towards his third successive Olympic title, equalling the record jointly held by Hungary's Lazlo Papp and Cuba's Teofilo Stevenson.

Savon, with his enormous reach and wrecking-ball right hand, looked sure to advance early in the third when Bennett suddenly found some of his tools and nailed the Cuban with massive right hooks. Savon absorbed the insult to his majesty and patiently returned to the business of exploiting his left jab. Bennett's chance duly passed.

Savon's win was emblematic of Cuban resilience and ability in the ring this week. The Cubans have 10 fighters left contending for medals. The Americans have five. Cuban head coach Alcides Sagarra requires a vow of silence from his boxers during tournaments so we never got to hear the ideologue Savon's thoughts on the rehabilitated Toy Store Bandit.

Bennett himself was philosophical and mindful of the journey he has taken to get this far.

"Savon was the better warrior than me on the day, but I'm not ashamed of my performance because I dug down deep and did my professional (sic) best," he said. He seemed nonplussed by the mercy rule which had deprived him of a fourth round just when he was finding range. The end of the bout drew a light rain of boos from the crowd but Bennett has learned a thing or two about obeying the rules.

"Rules are rules and I have no quarrel over the 15-point rule and that's the way it's got to be done. Maybe they could look into it the next time."

He had departed from his announced game plan however and there were some regrets there. "Maybe I threw too many straight shots and let my heart take over when I should have kept patient and stayed focused. I just gave up too many easy shots to him."

Those bone-shaking punches in the third round were as much punishment as Savon has taken in recent years and Bennett took the feel of them away as his personal souvenir.

"I felt I hurt him in the third round because I have the power but he was able to sustain that punch and keep going as the true and great warrior he is."

Savon now fights Germany's Sebastian Kober in the semi-finals tomorrow.