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

[Curtis Harper]

Being the worlds best amateur is obviously a goal

[Citizen Koba]

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-weightli...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.

[Citizen Koba]

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.

[Citizen Koba]

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.

[JakeTheBoxer]

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

[moochi]

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.