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By Cliff Rold - His Bronze Medal remains a positive sign.
For all the talk about the Olympic success being less a gauge of professional futures these days, the results don’t necessarily support the chatter. Guillermo Rigondeaux and Gennady Golovkin were Olympic medalists before they were pros. Andre Ward was as well. This fall, arguably the biggest fight the Heavyweight division can make (that hasn’t already been made) will take place between a pair of Olympic Gold Medalists at Super Heavyweight, Wladimir Klitschko (1996) and Alexander Povetkin (2004).
Between them was Audley Harrison.
The Olympics was never a guarantee of professional greatness. For every Ray Leonard who set the world aflame, there was a Howard Davis who couldn’t quite get to the title circles.
Fighters today who turn pro without bothering to chase Olympic glory don’t disprove the value of Olympic accomplishment. Mike Tyson, Marvin Hagler, and Aaron Pryor didn’t make the Games in their day. They made the professional Hall of Fame instead. Olympic glory is what it always was: a suggestion of future potential often realized.
Often not.
Deontay Wilder is part of two unique parts of the Olympic tradition. He is the only medalist for the US in the last two Games. He is also a Heavyweight.
Heavyweight medalists haven’t all won titles as pros but a substantial portion of the future elite in the last 60 years did. Klitschko, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Lennox Lewis, and Riddick Bowe all medaled at Heavyweight or Super heavyweight. [Click Here To Read More]
For all the talk about the Olympic success being less a gauge of professional futures these days, the results don’t necessarily support the chatter. Guillermo Rigondeaux and Gennady Golovkin were Olympic medalists before they were pros. Andre Ward was as well. This fall, arguably the biggest fight the Heavyweight division can make (that hasn’t already been made) will take place between a pair of Olympic Gold Medalists at Super Heavyweight, Wladimir Klitschko (1996) and Alexander Povetkin (2004).
Between them was Audley Harrison.
The Olympics was never a guarantee of professional greatness. For every Ray Leonard who set the world aflame, there was a Howard Davis who couldn’t quite get to the title circles.
Fighters today who turn pro without bothering to chase Olympic glory don’t disprove the value of Olympic accomplishment. Mike Tyson, Marvin Hagler, and Aaron Pryor didn’t make the Games in their day. They made the professional Hall of Fame instead. Olympic glory is what it always was: a suggestion of future potential often realized.
Often not.
Deontay Wilder is part of two unique parts of the Olympic tradition. He is the only medalist for the US in the last two Games. He is also a Heavyweight.
Heavyweight medalists haven’t all won titles as pros but a substantial portion of the future elite in the last 60 years did. Klitschko, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Lennox Lewis, and Riddick Bowe all medaled at Heavyweight or Super heavyweight. [Click Here To Read More]
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