How do adults stay fighting in the amateurs for like a decade?

Money aside, you'll see most boxers (amateur and pro) respect an Olympic Gold Medallist much more than a an Alphabet titlist or even a WBA interim regular champion.

Because American and English managers rule pro boxing and it is not easy for east Euro fighter to get a good promoting deal.

Yeah I know about Floyd’s Golden Groves consecutively and his way to the Olympics. You’re missing the point. My point is that the Olympics ain’t the pros. Headgear and conservative scoring/tagging is not the pros nor real prize fighting. Floyd was already a bonafide elite before the Olympics, all due in part because of his father and uncle. He picked up things as a kid from boxing by two already elite boxers in his dad and uncle. Floyd Sr. wasn’t as disciplined as Floyd Jr. Ironically it was Senior whom made sure Floyd wasn’t like him. Regarding the Olympics and “the Matrix,” all that pedigree wasn’t enough to convincingly beat Salido. Goes to show of the real hurt game versus the safety head gear. Ammys is a lot closer to the pros since they adopted MUST and ditched the headgear back in '13 and the styles are kinda evolving accordingly.

This video should answer every question in this thread. That's a great find, man, about as pertinent as it gets. Thanks. Get you a green for that one. The national champ who was Chechnyan he refers to can only be Beterbiev and he's talking about $10k per month for Artur there.

Well I think a lot of people are wondering how they make their living, including me. Yeah cuba and soviet union government paid their fighters but soviet union is gone yet there seems to be a lot of guys in eastern europe still doing 2 or 3 goes at the olympics. Is it the government still paying them over there? or do all those guys have day jobs? Mmmm. I knew team GB paid their squad members for the olympics and stuff and looking around a bit I found this on the Boxrec forums... https://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=212839 In many countries the state/sport authorities, National Boxing Federation or Olympic Committe pay a monthly salary to the National Team boxers. And they can get bonuses for international medals. In other countries the boxers will be employed by the Army/Navy/Marines/Police, etc but can box more or less fulltime. Some top boxers can get some nice sponsorships and also collect money from their province or city. Many countries have Leagues where the teams pay winning bonuses and then there is the World Series of Boxing. That bit about the services makes sense - Kovalev was a multiple time ammy Services champion, Breidis is a policeman, Camarelle, Russo... so maybe the services will pay em to represent and make allowances for training. Athletes competing at national level representing the country will often get government support like team GB (£30+ K a year + performance bonuses + free training according to reports). There's also these comments about team USA: In the USA amateur's get paid nothing. Not true. If they are on the national team they get a stipend. If they win medals in the Olympics they get paid and I think also for worlds. At some minor international tournaments they get money also. Which possibly explains how Spence stayed in the Ammys til he was just shy of 23 years old. I think historically the USA probably supported their am fighters a lot better, possibly under the table, but a lot of the support dried up after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the need to prove they were 'better than the commies'. Also this from Quora: https://www.quora.com/Do-amateur-boxers-get-paid They are not pro’s, so effectively they cannot prize fight - fight for money. However, there are ways around things; for example they can receive ‘expenses’, or get things paid up front (e.g. hotels and travel or accommodation) or could receive things from ‘sponsors’ (e.g. equipment, clothing etc). A classic example in another sport was Rugby, so in the UK years back Rugby was an amateur sport, bu the players got an ‘expenses’ package for overnight hotels, food etc….. which was an awful lot more than was needed, so they pocketed the rest. Also, if you are a medal hopeful for example, then you will get paid but not prize money - e.g. the UK team in Sheffield are full time athletes, who are funded mainly by the UK lottery, and also if they are good then sponsors pick them up and can arrange some kind of deal on the side (for example if they are sponsored by a car dealer then they may have to wear a t shirt when in public or drive a certain car with the logos of the dealer on but in return get the car and a fuel card) and there is nothing to stop an olympian or a more famous amateur from doing personal appearances, seminars or skype webinars etc, that could and will be paid. EDIT: Been looking on the team USA website for more info on the stipend system but if the info is there for boxing it ain't obvious. There is information freely available about the stipends for weightlifting though which might give us some kind of idea about the amounts involved if it's at all comparable. Lotta interesting info on the team USA boxing website - they will sanction Pro-Am of course like the WSB - but nothing on funding. https://www.teamusa.org/usa-boxing https://www.teamusa.org/usa-weightlifting/resources/athlete-information-and-programs/2017-2020-stipend-system It's a PDF so if you're struggling to access the figures are performance based $10k or 15k ish for attending Olympics / Worlds, $10k or so for a Gold, scaling down to $250 for 8th, bonuses for breaking records etc. Even if you're an elite guy certainly not enough to make a good living, which would kinda encourage guys to turn to the pro ranks of course, if the amounts are similar in boxing.

because they love beating up little kids. those with dreams of turning pro want to land a good promotional deal. promoters usually aren't out there trying to sign random unheard of amateurs from kazakhstan or ukraine. The US has a pipeline of amateurs that those guys can sign. its just easier. signing these unknown guy who are harder to promote is riskier so they better have damn good pedigree. An American amateur would likely turn pro sooner because he simply will get paid earlier on a promotional deal. its like college football/basketball. the really good prospects don't usually stay for all the years. same with US boxing. they have a shortcut because promoters want american fighters to turn into stars. you dont wanna gamble with some euro who could be a euro bum. you want a sure bet. loma was a sure bet. thats why a lot of times you will see big promoters sign euros after they are pro and have shown promise, not straight away

A lot of Euro guys do it but how? Like are they working part or full time jobs while fighting hundreds of bouts? Are they paid or given gifts by someone with vested interests? Are there like tournaments with cash prizes? What is it? Serious question, 10 years is ****ing long, like you don't see that happen in America, guys go pro asap because they want that money. Not everyone turns pro for different reasons, and like any other sport, not everyone "makes it". I've been an am for a long time myself. And why do it? For the love of the sport. The same reason snow boarders drive to mountains and board down them. The same reason surfers attempt to take on crazy waves. The same reason hoopers will still be dropping shots into their 60s and maybe 70s. The day I stop lacing em up, throwing my boots on, getting a lather going, and forcing an old fashioned gym war, will be the day I am no longer physically capable. For some of us, loving this sport doesn't stop at perusing NSB all day and eating up fights, live and historical, for some of us, that means leaving it all in the gym, or in a fight, until we cannot any longer.

This video should answer every question in this thread.

Wats wrong with dudes just wanting to compete ? But it is kinda iffy when u have Adults squashing teens

This ^. A lot of guys seem to be under the impression that the ammys is merely some kind of stepping stone til guys get to the 'real thing', probably because that is pretty much how it's treated in the US and Mexico, but traditionally many top ams, especially from the ex-Soviet / Eastern bloc countries never had any expectation of turning pro and anyway had few if any opportunities to do so. Well I think a lot of people are wondering how they make their living, including me. Yeah cuba and soviet union government paid their fighters but soviet union is gone yet there seems to be a lot of guys in eastern europe still doing 2 or 3 goes at the olympics. Is it the government still paying them over there? or do all those guys have day jobs?

Even after the fall of the soviet union, it seems like the whole eastern europe and asia area there are a lot of olympic medalists that just never turn pro. That is very weird to me. Any US or mexican fighter that makes it that far in the amateurs almost always turns pro. You do have Lomachenko who was fighting in the WSB which is paid but doesnt count as pro for whatever reason, looks pro to me.

Guys in their Mid 20's and even Early 30's in the Amateurs should NOT be allowed to compete with Teenagers and younger guys. Even worse is PROS being allowed to comeback to Amateurs and Olympics is really a F#CKING JOKE! Richard Torrez Jr situation vs Bakhodir Jalolov caused some controversy. Jalolov is already a 6-0 Pro with 6 KO's, no clue why he is even back as a Amateur Italy Heavyweight Roberto Cammarelle was an Amateur his entire career and he is like 40 years old now. I remember him fighting AJ in the finals in 2012 Olympics and years later he was still fighting and competing with guys like Tony Yoka and Filip Hrgovic in the Amateurs in his Mid 30's :lol1: A lot of the Cubans do it also. Currently, Erislandy Savon has to be 30 years old by now and is still competing in the Amateurs

Another thing too, not all are after the money believe it or not and also the fact that the Amateurs is the true form of sport (unlike the pros being commonly called a business disguised as sport). There's a reason Olympic Gold Medalists are so well respected forever. As an Amateur you go to a tournament and you fight everybody, all in their prime.

They are paid well and well respected in their countries (which leads to sponsorships and other perks). To turn pro they would have to leave their country and then be a B side fighter for the rest of their life basically and they all are not happy to go down that route. Germany was probably the pioneer in bringing in ex Amateur eastern bloc super fighters and turning them into superstars. The USA followed suit about a decade after them.

It would be much better for them to turn pro earlier. I am excited about how good Beterbiev is but he is already a boxing old man at 34 years old. Great looking middleweight Dervy is 33 years old. Beterbiev would have a better future if he was 27 years old or even 29 years old like Bivol. These guys are already past prime physically when they win the title even though they are great fighters. Loma should have turned pro about 7 years before he did.

The amateurs isn't just a vehicle for producing pros. Pro boxing is a completely different thing. Prize fighting isn't for everyone. This ^. A lot of guys seem to be under the impression that the ammys is merely some kind of stepping stone til guys get to the 'real thing', probably because that is pretty much how it's treated in the US and Mexico, but traditionally many top ams, especially from the ex-Soviet / Eastern bloc countries never had any expectation of turning pro and anyway had few if any opportunities to do so.

The amateurs isn't just a vehicle for producing pros. Pro boxing is a completely different thing. Prize fighting isn't for everyone.

How long was Loma in the amateurs? He gets a lot of praise for his amateur record. 396-1 just seems like straight up bullying the armatures, but I guess that's enough to get you #1 p4p. How is it bullying when most of the other guys were the same sort of age? Maybe it's a generational thing but I remember a time when there was no pro- Boxing in the Eastern bloc countries and these dudes would stay Ams till they retired, simply because there was no choice. Besides Profossional boxing was frowned upon as corrupt and decadent in many of these countries and so even when the door was opened a bit (by dudes like Tszyu, Jirov and the Klitschkos, there was little hurry to follow 'em because without a professional scene there were no opportunities without emigrating... a massive risk for most guys with no guarantee of success. The culture is slowly changing whether for better or for worse, with guys like Golovkin and Kovalev breaking through into the popular US market and guys like Lomachenko, Usyk and Gassiev following and bringing some kind of 'respectability' to the nascent pro sport in their home countries.

Cuba did it for decades. A bunch of grown men with fake birth certificates beating up on teenagers.

How long was Loma in the amateurs? He gets a lot of praise for his amateur record. 396-1 just seems like straight up bullying the armatures, but I guess that's enough to get you #1 p4p. --Easy for Loma to be p4p #1 as it is for you to be p4p #1 poopsie. It Happens!