Can USA boxing upper weight boxing be fixed?

[DeeMoney]

! Insane!! I believe you. Human nature...

Regarding talent. There used to be more problems for kids getting spotted before the internet. baseball was usually most scouted on the West Coast because kids could essentially play and develop all year. I played for a top Gil Hodges team in New York for one stint, and in Brooklyn you had guys scouted like Willie Randolph, Torres (the manager of the mets), etc... you even had occasionally players scouted out of the Spanish Puerto Rican leagues (I believe Rod Carew was first spotted in my hood East Harlem)... But the scouts would inevitably get more **** for their buck going to Kali and Florida and other such places.

But now-a-days? I think you are correct, kids have exposure...

You are speaking as an expert here... People often ask me "what martial arts style should I study" expecting me to give them an answer, much like one might expect you to say "ohh go to Dunbar in Baltimore and you will get an NBA contract . " In both cases we know better. Give me a kid who can keep from getting dragged into the streets, has a strong family, elite talent, and the drive to succeed and he can go to the local charter school! And regarding styles of martial arts? I always tell people, HOW and WHOM are you training with... "This Master Smith is a 10nth degree Red Belt!" "Oh yeah? HOW long has he been training?" My point being, the perspective of someone in the know understands and will be levels to the game above the same perspective of people who are not knowlegable about the subject.

What is nice is to have various posters, like yourself, who are in the know and can educate people on these matters. Many parents probably lose sleep over trying to get their kid in the best athletic situation, and need to hear from people in the know.

This is a major problem, the thing is most parents who are willing to listen aren't gonna fall for the ploys out there. The sad thing is, it has gotten real bad with middle school aged kids. There are many private home school athletic programs out here which tout the ability to "get your kid into one of the top private athletic high schools." They basically have their athletes do three hours of study hall a day, and then athletic training for the next 4-6 hours. Parents buy into this nonsense as if these schools will turn their child into a star athlete- allowing them to get into a top athletic high school.

Sadly, what usually happens is the kids just suffer academically, end up going to whatever high school is nearby, and parents are out thousands of dollars. I have told this to a lot of parents, but most don't want to listen. They swear their kid is the next great athlete, and sports school will get them over the top.

As a cool aside, Willie Randolph was the first ball player autograph I ever got as a kid, many decades ago.

[The D3vil]

Problem is now, with NIL in play, plenty of college athletes who won't be going pro are making money while in college.

Unless you're a big star, you're not going to be making enough to live on for any real amount of time.

The big stars are going to the pros, already, so you're not getting them.

The bench players aren't making that much, they can be gotten.

[Willie Pep 229]

You are right, but it really is crazy. I coach HS football in one of the most competitive regions in the nation. We won a ring this year in a mid to mid high classification; less than a month after the season had two of our all league under classmen get poached by other high schools. Other high schools recruit players from rival high schools and promise them more college exposure, which means more of a chance for NIL money.

This of course is ridiculous though, because all the college recruiters have access to the internet, and every high school puts all their players info out there for colleges to see as is. The kids get themselves recruited by their talent and ability, coaches just ride the kids coattails into the spotlight and act like they were the ones who did it. And while yes, the players as a whole are better than they were 50 years ago, this has nothing to do with them going to the top schools. The best teams in the nation are training the same ways as the mid level teams, they are just recruiting better talent to do it with.

Miami High School basketball has won numerous State Championship in Florida because they teach Italian.

Seriously.

During my thirty year tenure in Miami-Dade County public schools, I watched one player after another get poached from my school by Miami High.

Why Italian?

The County has a rule that if a school does not offer a particular subject desired by the student, at their assigned school, they can request a transfer to any other in-county school.

Only one school taught Italian. Miami High School.

Is that not the most obvious BS you ever heard? But that's how they did it.

One can't blame the student. His best shot at a scholarship is to play on a championship team and get noticed. So as far as the kid goes, I get it.

But it's still serious BS.

We have two football factories as well. But I'll leave that complaint for another day.

P.S. Should one assume that there are an inordinate number of tall African-American kids in Miami, fluent in Italian? Why do I think that's bogus?

[DeeMoney]

Unless you're a big star, you're not going to be making enough to live on for any real amount of time.

The big stars are going to the pros, already, so you're not getting them.

The bench players aren't making that much, they can be gotten.

I dunno. I had a kid get recruited to Michigan recently, won't make it to the NFL and won't see the field for a couple years, but will still get over 70K a year. Thats just the base NIL deal for anyone who plays football there. Or look at Oregon's roster where over half their scholarship players are clearing 100K, I get those are a big name schools, but virtually anyone playing football or basketball for a p4 school will make a lot of money just from the school's NIL collective.

Yeah, thats not the millions that Arch Manning or Cooper Flagg are getting. But you'd have a hard time convincing a kid to throw away at minimum 40K a year, and free education, free housing, free meals, etc.

[DeeMoney]

Miami High School basketball has won numerous State Championship in Florida because they teach Italian.

Seriously.

During my thirty year tenure in Miami-Dade County public schools, I watched one player after another get poached from my school by Miami High.

Why Italian?

The County has a rule that if a school does not offer a particular subject desired by the student, at their assigned school, they can request a transfer to any other in-county school.

Only one school taught Italian. Miami High School.

Is that not the most obvious BS you ever heard? But that's how they did it.

One can't blame the student. His best shot at a scholarship is to play on a championship team and get noticed. So as far as the kid goes, I get it.

But it's still serious BS.

We have two football factories as well. But I'll leave that complaint for another day.

P.S. Should one assume that there are an inordinate number of tall African-American kids in Miami, fluent in Italian? Why do I think that's bogus?

Haha, yeah we have the exact same rule in southern California, although now with open enrollment it is no longer needed. If you want to transfer to another school, and they will accept you, all you have to do is file within your home district.

[Dr Z]

We need to just look at the last American HW champion that we had, Deontay Wilder.

He was a basketball/football crashout, who took up boxing in his late teens/early 20s

That is the new model.

We're going to have to focus on basketball/football crashouts. It's going to take actively recruiting young athletes between 16-24

There's who generations of dudes in high-school & college basketball & football, who aren't good enough to play in the NBA or NFL, but want to still keep competing & want to make money. That's why Wilder went into boxing, to make money for his handicapped daughter.

We need to get those dudes into boxing.

Which is why many colleges should have a good boxing program laced with rivals in football. Basketball players can not fight!

[DeeMoney]

Which is why many colleges should have a good boxing program laced with rivals in football. Basketball players can not fight!

I always wished they would have legit collegiate boxing, but there are some hurdles now with the collegiate landscape.

- In collegiate athletics, basketball and football make a ton of money. Baseball and women's basketball basically break even. Most every other sport loses money. You'd be adding a sport to an athletic department that would be running in the red. There are plenty of collegiate club sports, sports that are affiliated with the school and are populated by athletes, but not directly under the athletic department, but that wouldn't do much for boxing.

- Title IX could be an issue. You need to offer the same number of women's sports as you do men's, and have roughly equal number of athletic scholarships and participants for each gender. So if you add boxing, you would need to either add women's and men's (making it even more of a financial albatross), or get rid of an already active men's sport

- Boxing already has an established minor league system. Collegiate baseball relatively is less popular than other major collegiate sports partly due to its already established minor league system. College football is the pipeline to the NFL, as is NCAA basketball for most Americans. For baseball though its split between NCAA and directly going to the minor leagues, this contributes to their being less attention given to NCAA Baseball. Collegiate Boxing, with an already established amateur system and no true major league, could suffer a similar fate.

[billeau2]

I've known more than a few who are about that level of talent, problem is the field, just like the ring, is an addictive mistress. Most of them want one last shot so they hang around a bit too long

Human nature lol.

[billeau2]

This is a major problem, the thing is most parents who are willing to listen aren't gonna fall for the ploys out there. The sad thing is, it has gotten real bad with middle school aged kids. There are many private home school athletic programs out here which tout the ability to "get your kid into one of the top private athletic high schools." They basically have their athletes do three hours of study hall a day, and then athletic training for the next 4-6 hours. Parents buy into this nonsense as if these schools will turn their child into a star athlete- allowing them to get into a top athletic high school.

Sadly, what usually happens is the kids just suffer academically, end up going to whatever high school is nearby, and parents are out thousands of dollars. I have told this to a lot of parents, but most don't want to listen. They swear their kid is the next great athlete, and sports school will get them over the top.

As a cool aside, Willie Randolph was the first ball player autograph I ever got as a kid, many decades ago.

Wow! I don't know how old you are but I am 60 and as a kid we used to wait by the gates for autographs. This was when the Yankees were first playing at Shay for a while because the stadium was being rebuilt, then in the new, the then new lol Yankee stadium. The players would come out and some of them were really cool about autographs. When Thurman Munson died in the plane crash I think I cried he was my favorite player as a kid.

[billeau2]

I always wished they would have legit collegiate boxing, but there are some hurdles now with the collegiate landscape.

- In collegiate athletics, basketball and football make a ton of money. Baseball and women's basketball basically break even. Most every other sport loses money. You'd be adding a sport to an athletic department that would be running in the red. There are plenty of collegiate club sports, sports that are affiliated with the school and are populated by athletes, but not directly under the athletic department, but that wouldn't do much for boxing.

- Title IX could be an issue. You need to offer the same number of women's sports as you do men's, and have roughly equal number of athletic scholarships and participants for each gender. So if you add boxing, you would need to either add women's and men's (making it even more of a financial albatross), or get rid of an already active men's sport

- Boxing already has an established minor league system. Collegiate baseball relatively is less popular than other major collegiate sports partly due to its already established minor league system. College football is the pipeline to the NFL, as is NCAA basketball for most Americans. For baseball though its split between NCAA and directly going to the minor leagues, this contributes to their being less attention given to NCAA Baseball. Collegiate Boxing, with an already established amateur system and no true major league, could suffer a similar fate.

Absolutely true. And it's actually getting scary how much money football programs are worth these days. We're talking drug money type money! I remember working as a caterer years ago when Stanford had an affair for the football team funding. The president was a guest at the event! George Bush.