I would watch every single match any pro was involved in just to see if they got upset or how they adjust their style to suit the amateur scoring system..
Would be amazing to see some young unknown kid beat a couple professionals on his way to a gold medal....
Most of the guys at the olympics will turn pro and be fighting 4-6-8 rounders for a couple years before we even hear their names again unless they are superstars like Floyd,Roy,Oscar etc....
Why not bring the sport back to the mainstream and get some eyeballs on the tv during the Olympic Games this summer....
Plus I really,really,really wanna see Amir Khan get chin checked by some fking skinny azz Indian kid that won't even make it as a professional lol...
Im not up on the amateurs from overseas but if there's any guys left out there like Lomachenko or Rigondeaux then good luck to the pros who run into them in the games...
If every country was sending their best fighter do you think Haney would have even been considered for the spot in the team? I don't.
Like most sports where pros are allowed to compete against amateurs, I don't think the best fighters would even pursue heading to the Olympics.
Haney was the favorite to represent Team USA; what American fighters would've been in play to fight lightweight (morning-of weight of 132lbs) or bantamweight (morning-of weight 123lbs)?
Simply asking to consider what the potential options would look like.
I would watch every single match any pro was involved in just to see if they got upset or how they adjust their style to suit the amateur scoring system..
Would be amazing to see some young unknown kid beat a couple professionals on his way to a gold medal....
Most of the guys at the olympics will turn pro and be fighting 4-6-8 rounders for a couple years before we even hear their names again unless they are superstars like Floyd,Roy,Oscar etc....
Why not bring the sport back to the mainstream and get some eyeballs on the tv during the Olympic Games this summer....
Plus I really,really,really wanna see Amir Khan get chin checked by some fking skinny azz Indian kid that won't even make it as a professional lol...
Im not up on the amateurs from overseas but if there's any guys left out there like Lomachenko or Rigondeaux then good luck to the pros who run into them in the games...You got your wish because the pros are now allowed to fight in the Olympics. Most pros don't seem to want to fight in the Olympics and so far the few who do have been turned down for some reason. The amateur scoring system has to be the worst scoring system ever invented by man. Khan may have a weak chin for a championship level boxer but I think you are selling him short. He was able to win the silver medal, I think it was, in the Olympics when he was a 17 year old kid. I think if he is allowed to compete now as a seasoned pro he would win the gold medal. Of course if Brook also competes in the Olympics Khan probably would get knocked out.
I would watch every single match any pro was involved in just to see if they got upset or how they adjust their style to suit the amateur scoring system..
Would be amazing to see some young unknown kid beat a couple professionals on his way to a gold medal....
Most of the guys at the olympics will turn pro and be fighting 4-6-8 rounders for a couple years before we even hear their names again unless they are superstars like Floyd,Roy,Oscar etc....
Why not bring the sport back to the mainstream and get some eyeballs on the tv during the Olympic Games this summer....
Plus I really,really,really wanna see Amir Khan get chin checked by some fking skinny azz Indian kid that won't even make it as a professional lol...
Im not up on the amateurs from overseas but if there's any guys left out there like Lomachenko or Rigondeaux then good luck to the pros who run into them in the games...
Devin Haney, were he allowed to have fought on the Olympic team (and likely would've been the best American at the weight class), would've been 17 years old, fighting grown men at 132lbs (basically fighting pro featherweights/super featherweights).
Not every instance would end up like that, but that's the nightmare scenario (a grown man beating the **** out of a promising junior Olympian just stepping into the openweight division)
Pro's in other sports can't kill each other man. LeBron being in the Olympics won't lead to a shorter life span towards his competitors. That's my biggest argument, honestly. Putting guys with so much experience with amateurs (head gear or not) is dangerous
This right here.
It's no accident that the 2 sports without pros (boxing and wrestling) are the ones where the experience and physical maturity difference come lead to the most damage to a competitor.
And IIRC, there is no headgear this year. Something else to keep in mind.
Its like old veterans fighting prospects, I see no outcry about that?
Amateur boxing and pro boxing are practically two different sports. If you think just because somebody is a pro they are better you're wrong.
These pro's don't train for it and neither are virtually any of them used to the format. Take Prizefighter pro boxing but over a short format - The seasoned veteran, the old pro never wins its always the guy fresh out of the amateurs.
A lot of these pro's wasn't good amateurs & still aren't, if anything they're even less suited to the amateurs than they was 15years back.
Look at all the amateurs even in the pro's, practically unbeatable for 4-5 rounds.
Its a different format and totally different stylings. These pros have spent years training on delivering power, pacing themselves and such.
I'll bet absolutely anything that most of these pro's do absolutely horrendous at the olympics.
Check this out Einstein...the nba is the mt Everest of world basketball. But you already knew that.
What's your point? And you'd be fine with say kovalev fighting some amateur kid who will never even sniff a world title?
I'm boxing it can be done too
If they were to do it separate from the amateurs where all pros would be fighting each other then i'd be all for that. But to put someone in there like say a kid that's 17 and has been boxing since he was 12 up against someone who has been boxing as long as this kid has been alive is just wrong, they are gonna get these kids hurt
Professional or amateur, it's still boxing. The Olympics are supposed to be for the world's best athletes in every contest. Doesn't matter if they're professional or amateur, the best should go to the competition of the best.
It won't be an easy gold for many pro's either. There are some excellent eastern European and Cuban amateurs that could easily beat most professionals if they went pro.
I don't like the idea - either everybody is a pro or everybody isn't. But anyone saying it's dangerous doesn't know what they are talking about. It's no more dangerous than some of the fights we get now in the amateurs, where one man totally outclasses another. I'm an amateur fighter (albeit a very experienced one with over 80 fights) and regularly spar some very accomplished pros. I'm sure world class amateurs far better than myself can go 3 rounds with pros. In fact, a pro fighter I know who had only 16 amateur fights with 1 loss (so basically a novice even if he was a good one) was sparring hard for a few rounds with froch as soon as he went pro. The danger isn't the problem. The problem is that it ruins the spirit of olympic boxing.
The soccer and baseball teams are going up against other pros, the best from their respective countries. Now you wanna take a pro and put them up against guys who have limited experience in boxing? That's not even a good comparison
I'm boxing it can be done too
Smart guy those other countries have all pro players too lol
Check this out Einstein...the nba is the mt Everest of world basketball. But you already knew that.
Team USA basketball is ALL pro players...yet people are getting upset at pro boxers fighting? Hmmm
Smart guy those other countries have all pro players too lol
So is it pathetic for the soccer teams and baseball teams to do the same. The soccer games get intense
The soccer and baseball teams are going up against other pros, the best from their respective countries. Now you wanna take a pro and put them up against guys who have limited experience in boxing? That's not even a good comparison