Man, it feels like Sadam Ali represented the United States in the Olympics nearly half a lifetime ago.

As it should. At least for Ali.

The teenaged Ali was not alone on that team in having a disappointing Olympic experience. The nine boxers who represented the US that summer came home with a collective one medal, and it was a mere bronze. It was the first time since 1948 that the US fielded an Olympic boxing team and did not capture multiple medals.

The ’08 team is not one that people wax nostalgic about – nor should they. These guys ain’t ’76 or ’84 or ’88, or even ’92, ’96, ’00 or ’04. By 2008, the American amateur program was in steep decline.

And I happened to be available that summer to watch (with occasional use of the TiVo fast-forward button) every single televised fight and write about all of it for ESPN, and as result, I basically swore off watching Olympic boxing ever again.

I have almost no fond memories of the 2008 Olympics, and particularly of the US team. I am not nostalgic for it.

But I’m going to wax anyway.

Ali’s return is as good an excuse as any to give these guys another look (especially when combined with what a dreadfully slow August it has been in our sport).

So here, from the bottom to the top, is a ranking of the pro careers of the 2008 US Olympic squad:

9. Luis Yanez

The southpaw light flyweight Olympian from Texas, known as “The Latin Legend,” fell just a wee bit shy of living up to the second half of that nickname. (“Latin” is confirmed, however.)

Yanez fought four times in his first 12 months as a pro, winning decisions each time, then didn’t fight for a year – and then fought to a draw in his fifth pro fight against 8-5-1 Joseph Rios. Yanez disappeared for another year, won three more fights (including a split decision over Rios) and vanished again after running his record to 7-0-1 in 2013.

He returned five years later, in 2018, and lost a unanimous six-round decision to 9-6-1 Alan Salazar Blanco, and that was that. Yanez’s final pro record (assuming he doesn’t have a Sadam-Ali-esque revival planned) was 7-1-1 – without a single knockout.

8. Raynell Williams

Coming out of Beijing, I was high on the Cleveland southpaw Williams, who won his first bout in the featherweight tournament in a rout and got absolutely robbed against France's Khedafi Djelkhir in the second round, losing a 9-7 decision after appearing to control all four rounds of the fight.

But Williams didn’t turn pro until 2013; like Yanez, never got beyond eight-rounders; suffered a stoppage loss to one Joshua Zuniga in 2017; and appears to be out of the game now at age 36, having previously fought in May 2023. Williams went 15-1 (8 KOs), never coming close to fulfilling the promise he showed in the ’08 Olympics.

7. Shawn Estrada

The Olympic middleweight from East L.A. had a respectable run in the summer of ’08, winning his first contest and then losing to eventual gold medalist and future professional titleholder James DeGale of Great Britain.

As a pro, however, fighting from super middleweight to cruiserweight, Estrada was another one who never got beyond eight-rounders. His career was limited in part by health issues – back and knee problems, and a hand injury.

He never formally announced his retirement, but after fighting 15 times from 2008 to 2012, he boxed once in 2014 and then got out of the sport – at least as a fighter. He remains involved as a trainer.

Estrada walked away with a perfect record of 16-0 (14 KOs), but he never made a significant mark in the pro ranks.

6. Javier Molina

The light welterweight Olympian from Commerce, California, sports a far less sparkling record than Estrada’s at 22-6 (9 KOs), but he still went much further, engaging in a handful of meaningful fights and losing only to quality opponents. (He last fought in February 2024, so I’m hesitant to refer to his career in the past tense.)

After dropping a lopsided 14-1 decision in his first bout in Beijing, Molina turned pro in March ’09 under Goossen-Tutor’s promotional banner and won his first nine fights before dropping an eight-round decision to 13-1 Artemio Reyes on a 2011 “ShoBox” card in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

“El Intocable” bounced back with eight straight wins, only to lose a 10-round nod in 2016 to undefeated future beltholder Jamal James.

Molina won his next five, mostly against solid opposition (most notably Amir Imam on the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder II card), but he is 0-4 since, having lost on points to Jose “Sniper” Pedraza, Jesus Ramos Jnr, Robbie Davies and Cain Sandoval.

Molina has never been stopped, and his six losses came against fighters with a combined record of 106-7 at the time he faced them.

5. Rau’shee Warren

There’s a clear dividing line in the rankings between Molina and Warren, as we now reach our first boxer who won a major belt as a professional.

It’s still fair to say the Cincinnati southpaw’s pro career was a bit disappointing – but nowhere near as disappointing as his second shot in the Olympics. Warren fought in Athens in ’04 at age 17 and waited four years to turn pro so he could try again, only to exit on a 9-8 decision in the opening round of the flyweight tourney in Beijing.

As a pro, the slick but light-hitting Warren went 19-4 (5 KOs), including 1-3 in title fights. He lost a disputed split decision to Juan Carlos Payano for a bantamweight belt in 2015, but he avenged that by majority decision in the rematch the next year. He then dropped his title to Zhanat Zhakiyanov by split decision in his first defense and came up short in a vacant title fight against fellow Olympian Nordine Oubaali in 2019.

4. Sadam Ali

If not for one fight on his record, I would rate New York’s Ali below Warren. But when you hold a win over Miguel Cotto – even a fading Cotto, who it turned out would never box again – it makes up for a lot of other holes in your resume.

The Brooklyn-born Ali lost in the opening round of the lightweight bracket in Beijing, turned pro under promoter Lou DiBella in ’09 and became a decent attraction on the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut circuit. He was cruising along, beating some credible veterans and fringe contenders (Luis Carlos Abregu, Francisco Santana) before running into Jessie Vargas in an HBO fight in 2016 and suffering a ninth-round stoppage loss.

A few bounce-back wins followed, then the career-best upset and unanimous decision over future Hall of Famer Cotto in 2017 – and then it was quickly downhill, as Ali got stopped in four by Jaime Munguia in ‘18 and in three by Anthony Young in ‘19. He hasn’t fought since the Young fight, and he comes into this Sunday’s bout in Detroit against Cody Wilson with a record of 27-3 (14 KOs).

3. Demetrius Andrade

There’s no questioning Andrade’s talent. There’s plenty of questioning his application of that talent in the pros.

A Providence, Rhode Island, southpaw – what is it with all the lefties on this team? – Andrade made a decent run at the Olympics, winning his first two fights before dropping a close 11-9 decision one win short of the medal round.

As a pro, “Boo Boo” won his first 32 fights … spread across 15 years … rarely against compelling opposition. The most notable names: 2004 US Olympian Vanes Martirosyan, Maciej Sulecki, Jack Culcay, Alantez Fox and Jason Quigley. Up through Andrade’s 35th birthday, that was the best opposition we saw him in with, even as he claimed alphabet belts in two divisions.

Then he faced David Benavidez in 2023 and was overwhelmed and stopped in six rounds, and Andrade hasn’t fought since. He’s 32-1 (19 KOs), and it would be nice to say it has been as exemplary a career as those numbers suggest – but anyone who was watching knows that’s not the case.

2. Gary Russell Jnr

Russell had the most miserable Olympic experience of anyone on the team, collapsing in his Olympic Village dorm room before his weigh-in and having to withdraw from the bantamweight tournament.

Like Andrade, Russell’s pro career hasn’t quite matched his obvious talent – not so much because of weak opposition, but rather because of frustrating stretches of inactivity.

 

Yet another southpaw, Russell had a featherweight title reign that lasted nearly seven years, which sounds like Hall of Fame-level success, until you realize he made just five successful defenses in those seven years.

A 2014 loss to Vasiliy Lomachenko is no shame, nor is a close one to Mark Magsayo in 2022 that ended Russell’s title run. In between, he whipped up on Jhonny Gonzalez, outpointed 2012 US Olympian Joseph Diaz and frequently flashed his ridiculous hand speed and elite skills.

Russell returned to the ring this July after three-and-a-half years off, improving his record to 32-2 (19 KOs), and he may not be finished yet. But the No. 2 spot on this list is probably as high as he’s climbing.

1. Deontay Wilder

The most unlikely Olympic success story, Wilder went on to have by far the most successful pro career of anyone on the ’08 US squad.

Wilder had been boxing as an amateur for only a couple of years before qualifying for the Olympics in the heavyweight division and wasn’t expected to make much noise. But he had some good fortune in Beijing.

There were only 16 fighters in the bracket, so he was instantly two wins from a medal. He beat an Algerian fighter, 10-4, then tied a Moroccan fighter, 10-10, but prevailed on a “countback” – and just like that, he was a medalist. Wilder lost by a 7-1 score in the semifinals, and thus “The Bronze Bomber” was born. (On an Olympic team with results this dreary, you’re damned right you’re building a nickname around a third-place finish.)

Wilder’s pro career requires little recounting for serious fight fans. He has gone 10-2-1 in alphabet title fights, engaged in an all-time iconic trilogy with Fury, scored knockouts in 43 of his 44 wins (against four losses and a draw) and may well end up being voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

That’s a lot more than any of his Olympic teammates can say. And, no, we’re not counting on Ali to begin altering that narrative this weekend.

Eric Raskin is a veteran boxing journalist with nearly 30 years of experience covering the sport for such outlets as BoxingScene, ESPN, Grantland, Playboy, and The Ring (where he served as managing editor for seven years). He also co-hosted The HBO Boxing Podcast, Showtime Boxing with Raskin & Mulvaney, The Interim Champion Boxing Podcast with Raskin & Mulvaney, and Ring Theory. He has won three first-place writing awards from the BWAA, for his work with The Ring, Grantland, and HBO. Outside boxing, he is the senior editor of CasinoReports and the author of 2014’s The Moneymaker Effect. He can be reached on X, BlueSky, or LinkedIn, or via email at RaskinBoxing@yahoo.com.