If you had the chance to become a pro boxer would you do it?

[KayDub]

I started boxing at 19 and fighting as an amateur at 20. I was aiming to box as a professional. I also would take a couple classes at the local college, sometimes only 1 a semester. A couple times I got to spar some high level pros. Some weren't completely discouraging, but some made me realize there's definitely levels to boxing and there are some levels I'm just not going to make it to. I got to within a year of getting a bachelors degree and decided my time was better spent there. The last time I was in the gym was at 24, and that was 8 years ago.

It was definitely the better choice. I don't regret not boxing as a pro. Not at all. I just don't want to take those kind of beatings.

[-Kev-]

The problem here is that you assume you can't make it as a pro if you don't start that early and that is false. Anyone of us can turn pro today if we want.

The main reason I held off on it is because as a veteran, I kept telling myself "for what really, you survived the war intact, you don't need the risks". Talked myself down from even more serious amateur involvement and then I started making decent money in a normal career and then took my foot off the gas.

I in reality should have way more amateur fights but I started in my 20s and don't feel I would have been out of my depth if I wanted to turn pro. People learn at different paces and I was already an athlete when I took boxing seriously. I learned the fundamentals quickly and studied and practiced even away from the gym and developed at a fast rate, I could tell relative to how other gym mates would progress over months. I still may change my mind today. If you really love the sport, you aren't going to make excuses to not be involved. People turn pro in their 40s and they aren't any less of a fighter than a guy who starts when hes 10. Chances are the older guy is more passionate because he got into it by choice and probably amidst discouragement by people who think like TS. The kid probably got somewhat forced into it by his father etc and might not have been wanted to box as a first choice in life.

If you have the heart, and time to put in at least 2 hours in the gym 5 - 6 days a week, GO FOR IT. Cats all the time act like they take MMA seriously and do two amateur fights and just hang at gyms talking about their overrated BJJ skills for the next 5 years and people give them respect like they did something challenging, but you want to write off a guy who gets into boxing late? It's laughable, we knew the MMA head was never going to be a contender so why give the guy getting into boxing flack like their chances weren't the same. Join a gym for 8 months, learn something and spar and see if it's for you, get 5-10 am fights and turn pro if you're late to the game. Why not? If youre offered a spot in the G league (NBA) wouldn't you take it even if over the hill? For the love of the game.

If you love boxing you'll get fired up just walking into a gym, hearing the bags, the bell, the pads, there's nothing like being in the ring with another man, you get to know each other in ways few people do, and you respect each other at the end of the round or fight, also in ways few people otherwise do. Boxing is the ultimate chess game because you execute every move for every chess piece yourself.

Sure you can turn pro now if you want, but your chances of success will be very slim. Slimmer than if you started as a child.

[Rockybigblower]

Not true. You can not make millions playing satellite tournaments. If you want to make a good living you'd have to at least become a steady top 50 player playing at the ATP tour and that's not easy. Most tennis player never get the opportunity to play Wimbledon and even when some low ranked player is able to qualify for the first round. That money you will have to use for hotels, travel, food coaching...etc.

Tennis is a very lonely and extremely expensive kind of sport. Only the top 20 -50 players make money and most others struggle to meet ends meet. Lots of Top 100 players don’t even get kit sponsorship and most players never even cracks the top 100 in the first place.

You should go look at the top 100 and see how many of those millionaires you recognise. Given that the top 5 or 10 win most tournaments...where do you think these other players are making their money?

[////]

No.

When I was younger I badly badly wanted to learn how to box, but once I achieved that goal, I had very little desire to compete.

As a got older (albeit still relatively young) my decision was reinforced.

A lot of these young prospects once seemed like rough, intimidating characters running their own lives instead of working a desk job.

That's a child's perspective of boxing. Now I see them for what they are; people from poor backgrounds picked up & groomed as a financial investment by people 10x smarter and usually also tougher than they are.

The fighter himself accumulating concussions and being told about the warrior DNA he comes from while being laughed at behind closed doors.

One in a million becomes a star, the rest would have been better off spending their time collecting glass bottles to recycle.

[dibzvincent143]

You go back in time, 6 year old you, with the same knowledge of boxing you have now. You are given the opportunity to train in boxing in a gym of your choice. You can choose any trainer on Earth, who was alive when you were 6 years old.

Would you do it?

What gym would you train in?

Which trainer would you choose to train 6 year old you to lead you through the amateur ranks and become a potential champion at the pro level?

What weight class would you start in and what weight class would you end your career in?

Would you have yourself trained to fight like a boxer or would you prefer to brawl?

If you say no to boxing, why wouldn’t you do it?

I would have loved to be a boxer. But how do you really start? Where do you need to go? I started loving boxing since i was 8-9 so i really could’ve gotten into it if an opportunity was offered.
So the first question is where do you need to go? It’s really nice to be born in a boxing family since you don’t have to go anywhere.. it is given. You are guided. Or if you’re born rich. You can just try it out.. if it doesn’t work out there’s plenty to go back to.

I was at school back then and i was really good at it. So do i have to quit then look for a boxing gym and ask anybody there how to be a boxer? What would anybody say? What would my parents say? How do i justify the move?
There is no boxing at school. No way to prove you’re any good at it.

I spar a lot at school before, street boxing, sometimes with gloves and i win like 100% of the time. My hands are very fast.. my feet as well. So who knows if i could’ve been good.. Atleast in my mind i am.

After highschool i got a scholarship to be a marine engineer. I signed a contract. So of course i gotta say goodbye to those daydreaming of being a boxer. I then started writing blogs about boxing instead, i was getting good reviews too.

So yep if an opportunity was offered i would have love to take it when i was young. But it seems to far away in my case.

Pacquiao risked everything to start his career. Leaving his hometown to go to manila without knowing anyone there wtf. how do you survive that. He was doing construction work too. Man i don’t think i could have ever left school not knowing what to do next.

[VatoMulatto]

You should go look at the top 100 and see how many of those millionaires you recognise. Given that the top 5 or 10 win most tournaments...where do you think these other players are making their money?

They make their money playing on the ATP tour. You won't be playing ATP tournaments unless you're a top 100 player. You have to be a consistent player on the ATP tour to make a good living. At least a steady top 50 player.

[QueensburyRules]

You go back in time, 6 year old you, with the same knowledge of boxing you have now. You are given the opportunity to train in boxing in a gym of your choice. You can choose any trainer on Earth, who was alive when you were 6 years old.

Would you do it?

What gym would you train in?

Which trainer would you choose to train 6 year old you to lead you through the amateur ranks and become a potential champion at the pro level?

What weight class would you start in and what weight class would you end your career in?

Would you have yourself trained to fight like a boxer or would you prefer to brawl?

If you say no to boxing, why wouldn’t you do it?

- -Say NO to U in a heartbeat.

Were U even potty trained at 6 yrs old?

[.!WAR MIKEY!.]

I was on that road, but I got into the wrong things.

[EDDIE SPERM]

Right away, things would be easier