Comments Thread For: Should Amateur Records Count in Evaluating Greatness?

[dannnnn]

What a terrible article written by someone attempting to discredit amateur boxing almost entirely. Maybe someone should refer the author to what happened fairly recently when certain accomplished professional boxers - amongst them a former world champion - attempted to compete in the amateurs against far younger, less experienced opposition and were soundly beaten. Two completely different styles of boxing.

One thing that can be said though is that a successful amateur career paves the way for a fast track in the pros, where as a non-existent amateur career offers little hope to anyone who is not the beneficiary of extreme fortune or is otherwise in some way exceptional.

In short: to be a great amateur doesn't always spell success in the pros, but it does far more often that not. Its importance cannot be overstated.

[Bunch Pag]

Not really, unless the subject is greatest amateur boxers that is...

Some fans like a good read/delve into a fighters background.

Some fighters are proud of the amateur career good, bad or indifferent. However it's a different animal once in the pro ranks...

For a conversation like that to develop into a greatness conversation then I'd imagine the boxer in question had a pretty good pro career before evaluating his amateur one...

[BoxingIsGreat]

No it shouldn't

Personally it annoys me when guys do more than one Olympic cycle unless they are REALLY young at their first one like 17 or something then maybe.

But a lot of these Eastern euros they stay there until they are 30 with grey bollock hairs, it's ridiculous.

My favorite Eastern Euro ever was Jirov. Now Usyk. Maybe Usyk should retire or fight at catchweights. He doesn't seem to have a divisional identity. Stay at cruiser.

[YGriffith]

No it shouldn't

[aboutfkntime]

nope, it's a different game

plenty of great amateurs were not top professionals, so there is no relation

[BoxingIsGreat]

]What a terrible article written by someone attempting to discredit amateur boxing almost entirely. [/B]Maybe someone should refer the author to what happened fairly recently when certain accomplished professional boxers - amongst them a former world champion - attempted to compete in the amateurs against far younger, less experienced opposition and were soundly beaten. Two completely different styles of boxing.

One thing that can be said though is that a successful amateur career paves the way for a fast track in the pros, where as a non-existent amateur career offers little hope to anyone who is not the beneficiary of extreme fortune or is otherwise in some way exceptional.

In short: to be a great amateur doesn't always spell success in the pros, but it does far more often that not. Its importance cannot be overstated.

When I saw amateur in the title, I thought I'd read some good stuff about Loma's background and success in pro boxing. I usually avoid Hauser articles otherwise. He used to be a huge Top Rank shill (maybe still is).

[Encoupejas]

I think no

[BoxingIsGreat]

Greatness is cumulative (can't completely ignore someone's priors). That's why I wanna see a couple more fights from Loma.

[Ant1979]

I think the answer to this question will also vary due to geographical location. Historically Olympic pedigree/amateur records arguably carry more weight in the likes of Cuba and the eastern European countries than some of the western ones like the UK.

For example until Harrison won the gold for GB amateur boxing received relatively little funding. And it took until 2015 for the UK to have its first world champion in James Degale to have previously won gold in the amateurs.

Obviously things are very different for GB amateur boxing nowadays. But for most UK boxing fans today a gold medal only guarantees a break/shot at the big time, nothing more.

[stealthradon]

Apart from
Lomachenko
Pernell Whitaker
Oscar De La Hoya
Floyd Patterson
Michael Spinks
James DeGale
Ryōta Murata
Muhammad Ali
Leon Spinks
Andre Ward
Joe Frazier
George Foreman
Ray Mercer
Vassiliy Jirov
Oleksandr Usyk
Lennox Lewis
Wladimir Klitschko
Alexander Povetkin
Anthony Joshua

There aren't really any gold medal winners who did anything in the pros.