Comments Thread For: Manny Pacquiao Declines Opportunity To Fight in Rio Olympics

[Larry the boss]

good..........

[Elotero]

He could win gold with his amateurish style.

i agree, his style is amateurish, but he'd get outboxed by a cuban. id put money on it.

Also, hasnt been an olympic medalist for that country since 1992 (bronze) dont think thats changing any time soon.

[Johnwoo8686]

Assuming you're right, then thats still fine. Whoever is the best at fighting under the Olympic rules should win a gold medal for their country.... professional or not.

Some pro's have styles that aren't necessarily suited for that type of boxing. I'm not sure really, but fighters like Floyd who have notoriously low output may struggle, as the scoring system isn't going to reward one or two good shots a round. There are also amateurs in the Olympic system who have mastered the Olympic style, and have no intentions of turning professional (for political or personal reasons). I want to see them against the talent of the professional pool too.

On top of that, we get to see professionals fight each other without the corruption of promoter and network politics, they have to fight each other. They can turn these out into selling points into a professional showdown if they like. I honestly don't understand the backlash, other than those who don't like change (which is fine). It only happens once every 4 years, and national prestige is on the line. It should be as inclusive as possible

Struggle? Floyd earned a bronze medal in the Olympics and many on the committee think he was robbed of an opportunity to fight for the gold. If anything, Floyd's style is perfectly suited for the Olympics because in many ways he fights like a top level amateur. The amateur fighting system is based on point scoring and accuracy. Combination punches don't get you much credit if your work is not clean, single shots get the majority of the credit.

You were way off with this comment. And I do not think pros should be fighting amateurs either. You may play basketball, you may play tennis, but you don't play boxing. These kids could seriously get hurt fighting a 20 year pro in boxing.

[techliam]

Struggle? Floyd earned a bronze medal in the Olympics and many on the committee think he was robbed of an opportunity to fight for the gold. If anything, Floyd's style is perfectly suited for the Olympics because in many ways he fights like a top level amateur. The amateur fighting system is based on point scoring and accuracy. Combination punches don't get you much credit if your work is not clean, single shots get the majority of the credit.

You were way off with this comment. And I do not think pros should be fighting amateurs either. You may play basketball, you may play tennis, but you don't play boxing. These kids could seriously get hurt fighting a 20 year pro in boxing.

Floyd's style has changed completely from the amateurs.... its changed completely since he was at 140 in my view. His fights at 147 especially have been low output affairs... which are usually not looked upon greatly in the amateurs, even if you claim they are. Landed punches score, even if not as effectively. What you're describing there is far more akin to professional scoring.

With how experienced some of these amateurs actually are, especially Cubans, I don't share your view. Professionals aren't necessarily better at the amateur game that the amateurs themselves live and breathe. With a much higher talent pool to begin with, its less and less likely the least skilled and least experienced amateurs would quality, to which they should continue their journey at the world amateur championships.

[ChiCityExtractz]

Lucky for those Amateurs. Lol they have never experienced power and speed like pacquiaos. Them going nuts for 3-4 rounds could play into mannys hand because he could counter them and get them out of there quick. I also think with his legislative power, he's gonna be richer than Floyd long term. Why? Because everything is free at that point, along with tax cuts.

[Johnwoo8686]

Floyd's style has changed completely from the amateurs.... its changed completely since he was at 140 in my view. His fights at 147 especially have been low output affairs... which are usually not looked upon greatly in the amateurs, even if you claim they are. Landed punches score, even if not as effectively. What you're describing there is far more akin to professional scoring.

With how experienced some of these amateurs actually are, especially Cubans, I don't share your view. Professionals aren't necessarily better at the amateur game that the amateurs themselves live and breathe. With a much higher talent pool to begin with, its less and less likely the least skilled and least experienced amateurs would quality, to which they should continue their journey at the world amateur championships.

His style hasn't "completely changed" but he has changed it up a bit. He's focused more on precise punching than combination punching now. Combination punching is looked upon more fondly by professional judges but not Olympic judges. Amateur boxing is more like fencing where point scoring is what gets you the win. I've seen Amateur boxing matches where guys throw 6 or 7 punches at a time and not get a single point.

If Floyd were an Amateur now he would be far more successful than he was when he was 19. Floyd throws less combinations now and focuses more on accuracy which as I said before is what earns you points in Olympic boxing.
Look at Cuban amateurs, very few of them throw tons of combos. Guys like Rigondeaux, Lara, Ortiz are all about accuracy.

And yes, pros are far better than amateurs. You have to be a fool to believe otherwise. There have been gold medalist who amounted to nothing when they turned pro. It's an entirely different ball game. And when you combine the fact that they are now removing head gear, that spells absolute trouble.
Imagine Golovkin punching a 17 year old in the head who has no head gear.

[Manic Shot]

Good, stay retired Champ!