anyone pro or plan on turning pro? Any success?

[whatevathehell]

how long does it take to set up an amateur fight...like how many per year if you wanted to max it out so to speak.

[fraidycat]

Too damned old -- got into this a year ago at age 35. I'm going to do a few more inter-gym skills bouts this year, and then see if I can set something up in the Master's Division (amateur) for '08.

[potatoes]

Just wondering. Im only 17 with 1 amaetur fight under my belt.

The need for amateur experience is largely dependant on style. A tall boxer needs many more amateur fights than a short slugger. Learning a broad range of technical skills takes many years to develop, and the younger you start the better. A slugger needs only a few skills, but needs to do them very well. If you lack firepower it is generally a bad idea to adopt the slugger's style because it won't take long for your opponents to figure out you can't hurt them!

Back when I was training young guys, I would usually teach them the counterpunch style, similar to James Toney. Counterpuching is just an acquired set of skills which doesn't require a lot of natural speed or power, nor does it require as much time to learn as technical boxing. Nevertheless, you can still expect to serve your 4 year apprenticeship like everybody else! Counterpunching was once a good style for the amateurs, although I am not so sure about that now. It is also a good style for the pros. Another advantage is that you don't have to retrain yourself to go from the amateurs to the pros.

Success or failure in the amateurs does not necessarily portend what might happen in the pros. Audley Harrison won Olympic gold yet he has been a disappointment as a pro. Librado Andrade failed as an amateur yet he is now fighting for a title as a pro. The only way you can be sure of what might happen is to go out and give it your best shot.

[platinummatt!]

what about olympics

[Jim_Davis]

Yeah me.

lol jokes I aint even started boxing yet. If I had enough amateur fights and I was beating the shti out of my opponents then yeah. But if I was just a pretty decent amateur I wouldnt bother because I wouldn't want a pro career that consisted of getting beaten for younger contenders to rise through the ranks.