By STEVE BUFFERY -- Toronto Sun
  SYDNEY -- The big Binkowski went bye-bye at the Olympic boxing tournament early this morning, and the Canadian team is history.

 For the first time since 1976, Canada failed to win a boxing medal at an Olympic Games -- a huge disappointment for a squad that was hoping to come through with one or two trips to the podium in Sydney.

 Waterloo super-heavyweight Artur Binkowski was the last shot the Canadians had to grab a medal, but the gemology student just couldn't craft a winning performance against tough Rustam Saidov of Uzbekistan at the Sydney Convention Centre.

 The Polish-born Binkowski gave it his best shot, but was no match for the taller, quicker Saidov, who scored at will with quick, straight lefts and rights, while maintaining a smart distance from the lumbering Canadian.

 The bout ended with 13 seconds left in the second round, with Saidov up 17-2 on points. Olympic boxing matches are stopped when a fighter moves ahead by 15.

 The 6-foot-1, 201-pound Binkowski, 25, was clearly frustrated with his performance, while acknowledging his opponent took advantage of the computer scoring system. Saidov scored often with quick, but not particularly powerful, shots while staying away from a brawl -- which would have played into Binkowski's game plan.

 Binkowski, who was bleeding profusely from a cut on the bridge of his nose early in the second, is not impressed with the light-punching style of Saidov and other amateurs who have mastered the computerized system, and for that reason is considering turning professional. Canadian flyweight Andrew Kooner expressed the same sentiment earlier in the week.

 "The first guy I fought came to fight," Binkowski said. "This guy came throwing girlish punches. They didn't make me blink.

 "I look at (the amateurs) as kind of like a boyish game," he added. "Real men fight longer fights, longer rounds, tougher fights, where judges don't push the buttons. Judges look at the fight. If that bout (against Saidov) wasn't computer scoring, if that was scorecards, the fight wouldn't have stopped."

 Binkowski is torn between becoming a gemologist and goldsmith, and turning pro.

 "The pros is a dirty game, a much tougher game. (But) money talks," he said. "Judging by my performance today, you haven't seen all of Binkowski. This guy was a quicker man, that doesn't mean he has more power than me."