Why cant pro fighters fight in the Olympics?

[shadeyfizzle]

there would have to be a rule made to protect such fighters.....the olympic results should have no bearings on rankings....plus with all the protective gear there's no way to say that the olympic outcome of fight between 2 fighters would be the same in a professional fight.....

Then it would hurt boxing as a whole sport in general. Imagine the confusion and ridicule. I can see the headlines already if this happened.

"World heavyweight champion drops ball in olympic opener"

"Olympic gold medalist "insert name here" cant win professional bout to save his life"

[Mr. Philadel]

Then it would hurt boxing as a whole sport in general. Imagine the confusion and ridicule. I can see the headlines already if this happened.

"World heavyweight champion drops ball in olympic opener"

"Olympic gold medalist "insert name here" cant win professional bout to save his life"

I don't think the sport would be hurt by this.....but that is a funny ass headline

[shadeyfizzle]

I don't think the sport would be hurt by this.....but that is a funny ass headline

I think it would hurt the sport. The headgear and scoring system make it a completely different world. If pros were to compete with protective headgear and the punch scoring system then paulie malignaggi, and ivan calderon would be the epitome of boxing excellence with emphasis on landing massive amounts of clean blows without any real intent behind them.

[squealpiggy]

It's a different sport. Amateur boxing is a different sport to professional boxing. Besides which, the Olympics is a good way for people to showcase their ability in order to launch a pro career later.

Would you prefer it if every entrant to the Olympics was like the US basketball team?

[shadeyfizzle]

It's a different sport. Amateur boxing is a different sport to professional boxing. Besides which, the Olympics is a good way for people to showcase their ability in order to launch a pro career later.

Would you prefer it if every entrant to the Olympics was like the US basketball team?

Its just not possible because of the fact that its a different world in the olympics. If pro boxing was like the olympics then malignaggi would be undisputed juniorwelter champ and Hatton's plodding ass wouldn't get passed the 1st rd

[squealpiggy]

Its just not possible because of the fact that its a different world in the olympics. If pro boxing was like the olympics then malignaggi would be undisputed juniorwelter champ and Hatton's plodding ass wouldn't get passed the 1st rd

Hatton had 73 wins as an amateur including a wold championship bronze medal.

[shadeyfizzle]

Hatton had 73 wins as an amateur including a wold championship bronze medal.

That american in this year's olympics...deandre latimore i think it was was reigning world champ but couldnt get past the 1st fight.

[PunchDrunk]

Olympic medals dont put food on the table however.

I think David Reid would beg to differ. He got a 1 million $ signing bonus when he turned pro, because he was an Olympic champion. He would have gotten a box of tomatoes as a signing bonus if he'd lost in the quarter finals.

[RL_GMA]

funny........i was thinking the same thing today

boxing is one of the only sports that a professional cant compete in the Olympics in........in basketball, swimming, gymnastics, track & field, etc. all allow pro athletes to compete

but boxings only for amateurs......wonder why

Pro Baseball players don't play in Olympics...but literally because MLB & Summer Olympics are going on at the same time.

Only up until The Dream Team, there weren't any pro players in Basketball with the other sports like Track & Field & Gymnastics who mainly rely on Olympics as the big stage.

[warp1432]

I disagree because I like seeing fighters to look foward too. I don't follow the amateurs at all, but it's nice to see the top ones when watching the olympics. Even with a good scoring system I sitll don't think I'd want to see Pro's in the olympics because they are only 4 2 minute rounds. If they were 10 rounds....well then.