Duke Ragan will bring a Silver medal home to Cincinnati. 

The inspiration featherweight representative for the United States came up one fight short of bringing home Gold. Ragan was competitive in a split decision loss to Albert Batyrgaziev (ROC) in the Tokyo Olympics men's featherweight final Thursday at Kokugikan Arena in Tokyo.

Ragan won 29-28 on two cards, overruled by scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 for Batyrgaziev, who prevails in the first-ever Gold medal bout between two current pro boxers. 

The journey marked a series of first accomplished by Ragan, who entered Tokyo as one of three pro boxers on the U.S. roster. The Top Rank signed featherweight—currently 4-0, with one knockout—was the first of the three to fight, winning a split decision over France's Samuel Kistohurry on July 24. 

Wins over Kazakhstan's Serik Temirzhanov and Ireland's Kurt Walker saw Ragan become the first-ever pro boxer from the U.S to medal. He was also the first U.S. featherweight to advance that far since 2000, when Ricardo 'Rocky' Juarez took home Silver from Sydney.

A decision win over Ghana's Samuel Takyi positioned Ragan to become the first U.S. male boxer since Andre Ward in 2004 to win Gold. 

It required his figuring out a way to outbox Batyrgaziev. The Top Rank-promoted featherweight was calm and calculated in his approach, perhaps a little too much so as Batyrgaziev was the more active fighter down the stretch to sway four of the five judges.

Ragan proved more effective in round two, making Batyrgaziev (3-0, 3KOs as a pro) miss and then countering the ROC boxer with compact right hands and left hooks. His work was only partially rewarded, once again only winning the round on one scorecard. 

A dramatic knockout was needed in the final round in order to bring home Gold. Ragan couldn't quite channel his inner David Reid, who rallied to stop Cuba's Alfredo Duvergel in the third round after trailing in their 1996 men's middleweight Gold medal bout.

No such magic would come for Ragan, who did box well enough to win the final round on four of the five cards. Batyrgaziev had already secured Gold by that point, the first from an ROC team that has claimed five medals in Tokyo.

Joining Batyrgaziev and Ragan on the medal podium, Takyi and Cuba's Lazaro Alvarez claimed Olympic bronze at featherweight. 

Ragan is part of a U.S. team that will take home four medals, with a shot at Gold in two more divisions. Richard Torrez Jr. will face Uzbekistan's Bakhodir Jalolov in the Gold medal round at super heavyweight on August 8. Keyshawn Davis will face Armenia's Hovhannes Bachkov in their men's middleweight semifinal on Friday, with the winner advancing to Sunday's final. 

Oshae Jones was the lone U.S. female to medal, taking home Bronze in at women's welterweight in the division's first year of Olympic competition. The four-medal haul by USA is the best total since 2000. 

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox