Professionals in the Olympics: Yay or Nay?

[soul_survivor]

Well, what side are you on? Leave some justification for the vote too.

[motivational]

It should be allowed. They can do what they want, but they'll obviously have to adapt to a Olmypic fighting style and rules. I think it was Mike Tyson who said that the professionals would get beat by amatuers and it would be embarrasing for them.

[DeadLikeMe]

I'm against it personally (like if I had a vote somehow), but look forward to the ****show. Future "never weres" will be catapulted to stardom and professional careers derailed by this.

[SthPaw]

Personally I don't like it.

The amateurs/Olympics and the pro ranks are historically separate, one leads to another with the Olympics being the gateway for the peak of the amateur boys to platform into the pro ranks...Why would professionals go back to that? I dunno man it just doesn't sit well with me.

Imagine you are a rising and promising talent as an amateur and you are being touted as someone to keep an eye on for when/if you turn pro...You make it to the olympics and it goes great for you and you make it into the contest for gold and you lose to someone who is an already established professional? You would feel like someone had doubled back on themselves and climbed back down the ladder to stop you from getting on.

That being said, I suppose you could counter my point by saying "Yeah but if you beat the pro in the finals you would look even better" but come on, that isn't the idea...The idea of the Gold medal is the pinnacle of the amateur level - therefore the contests should be just that - amateur vs amateur.

[Art-illery]

If these amateur boxers are going to be fighting world class pro boxers, then they should be getting paid as such. But AIBA doesn't have enough money in its coffers to pay these men and women. If so, then AIBA would not have taken that dirty Azeri money when the WSB was about to go bankrupt. It will change the boxing game for sure, but it feels as if amateur boxers are being sold out to the highest bidder when the majority of them just want that gold medal across their chests to prove to their respective countries that they repped them well that year on the highest level. Corruption in amateur boxing has been going on for a while, but this puts the nail in the coffin.

The "come up" story in boxing is disappearing, and now it's looking like a pep-rally session.

[R_Walken]

Depends

If it's just 1 or 2 Pros like Amir & Manny feasting on Amateurs then I don't like it and think it'd be a joke

But if it's like Basketball,hockey, tennis or any other sport where the athletes competing are almost all professional and the top of their sport then I think it'd be a good

[The Noose]

*** noooooooo

[soul_survivor]

what worries me most is the physical well being of the amateurs, many of whom are in their late teens and early 20s.

[Sweet Jones]

what worries me most is the physical well being of the amateurs, many of whom are in their late teens and early 20s.

This right here.

That clip of Eubank Jr. sparking that kid out in sparring with be what you can expect in the early matches of a Pro-Am boxing tourney.

[Eff Pandas]

The Olympics are ALL PROS except for Boxing & Wrestling now. Either those sports will bring in pros or they won't be in the Olympics at some point. So you are basically voting yes or no if you want boxing in the Olympics with your vote on this topic.

Personally I'm intrigued by the idea of all pros being in the Olympics. I'm not sure how guys like Manny, Khan or Klitschko would do in 3 rounds fights, but I don't think those are the types of guys who'll be doing this more often then not. The guys going for the $50k prize for winning a gold medal are going to be 9-0 guys or 17-2 journeymen & people more along those lines trying to qualify & fight in the Olympics. I actually suspect many notable pros wouldn't even make it to the actual Olympics & would get knocked off by guys more comfortable fighting 4 & 6 rounds who haven't gotten accustomed to warming up a few rounds before they really begin.