2009 World Cup of Petroleum Countries

[Dennis]

Maybe the USA isn't the only country that has Olympic teams that aren't supported by the government, but the majority of the more successful programs are supported by their governments.

[LRSJ]

I think government support is the wrong way to go. Yes, it would make it easier for the boxers to train, take off work, and so on if there were more money to throw at boxing. But, the federal government does not have the money either. Especially right now. Almost everything the government does now is on borrowed or freshly printed money and I think it is just not right for them to spend more on anything right now.
The real problem, in my opinion, is a general lack of support and popularity of amateur boxing in the US right now. It is the same with pro boxing in the US, save the really big PPV fights. I can not put my finger on the reason why. I think it is a challenging, exciting sport. It is definitely my favorite. But I don't know too many other young people who would say the same. :(

[DCAmateurBoxing]

I think government support is the wrong way to go. Yes, it would make it easier for the boxers to train, take off work, and so on if there were more money to throw at boxing. But, the federal government does not have the money either. Especially right now. Almost everything the government does now is on borrowed or freshly printed money and I think it is just not right for them to spend more on anything right now.
The real problem, in my opinion, is a general lack of support and popularity of amateur boxing in the US right now. It is the same with pro boxing in the US, save the really big PPV fights. I can not put my finger on the reason why. I think it is a challenging, exciting sport. It is definitely my favorite. But I don't know too many other young people who would say the same. :(

It's most definitely the marketing of the sport itself. Amateur boxing is not pushed or supported at the grassroots level outside the boxing community. Most boxing shows are attended by boxers and their families. I hear it all the time from people not directly involved in boxing that they didn't know anything about the sport or a particular event. We've got to get more kids excited and involved by spreading the word and educating people that the sport exists. Basketball, football and most recently MMA have done a great job pushing the sport. You see all levels (not just collegiate) of amateur basketball (AAU, High School, etc) and football (Pop Warner, High School, etc) on TV a lot. Those sports had followings that made advertisers want to sponsor or advertise at the events only because of their popularity. I think that if more people knew about amateur boxing, they would attend/enjoy shows and there would be more interest in supporting the sport.

[boxmel]

Maybe the USA isn't the only country that has Olympic teams that aren't supported by the government

Yes, it is. It's also the only country not run by strictly AIBA rules.

I think the problem is that there are just too many mainsteam sports for athletes, friends, families and spectators to focus on, i.e., baseball, basketball, football. Boxing is an individual niche sport, does not cause widespread interest and is generally not understood. The media doesn't have much of an interest, either - there is no money or blood involved, like the pros. I've seen many a grassroots effort over the years to publicize and get interest in amateur boxing and it just doesn't work. Even when we get good PR for shows in SoCal, it's still only the boxers, coaches, friends and family who show up. And we have the biggest LBC in the country.

[Dennis]

Advertising and marketing boxing to the masses does help. National tournaments that promote themselves well and get media coverage do much better than those that don't. Do they get packed like a college football game? No. Rocket football games do not get a whole lot of fans either. However, once they get to Middle School, they start doing a little better but not much. The fans are still just a few family members and a few students. Once they get to High School, things start to change. Freshman football has some fans. Just more friends and family members come plus a lot more fellow students. You get to the Varsity level and then you start to see 5-10,000 people in the stands. It is unreal. It is still mostly "friends and family", but the pool of friends and family has just gotten a lot bigger. Most players know a lot of fellow students and teachers and then those people bring along friends too. Neighbors come to see someone play. You also have friends and family of the cheerleaders, the band members, the dance team and the drill team that come to watch them and not the football game. At our high school, you have 50-60 kids on the varisty team, you have dozens on the JV and dozens on the freshman team. All those players are required to attend the game and each brings a bunch of friends and family to the event. The band has 50-100 members, there are 12-16 cheerleaders, 8-12 dance team members and about 20 on the drill team. They all bring fans too. You then have lots of students who come to just hang out as it is a big social event and not just a game. Many don't even watch the game they just stand around and talk. We could do this in boxing. If every boxer would just bring along 10 friends and family members to the show (and not just when they are competing as many football players never get off the bench and yet they have friends and family that come to support them).

[Dennis]

Continued from above:
If at a Silver Gloves tournament each boxer entering the tournament would bring 10 fans, then the place would be packed. At ours, we have well over 100 entries each year so if each boxer brought a minimum of 10 fans there would be over 1,000 people in the stands not counting the boxers, coaches and officials. Do we have that many? NO, but we should.

Most sports start out with just friends and family coming to the sporting events. The more each person "markets" the sport the better the attendance numbers get. Everyone involved is responsible for marketing the sport of boxing. If every official would have 10 friends and family members come to each event, there would be another 50-100 butts in the seats.

[boxmel]

If at a Silver Gloves tournament each boxer entering the tournament would bring 10 fans,

IF each boxer has 10 fans who are willing to pay an admission fee. Most have only family and other team members.

If every official would have 10 friends and family members come to each event,

I don't have 10 friends or family members who are interested in boxing. The same is true for the officials in my LBC.

[Dennis]

It is everyone's responsibility to promote the sport. I routinely get dozens of friends and family at events. Sometimes it is in the hundreds.

[boxmel]

It is everyone's responsibility to promote the sport.

And you say this because.......?????? I think most of us try.

I routinely get dozens of friends and family at events. Sometimes it is in the hundreds.

Maybe it would be in the best interest of the sport to take your dozens and hundred of family and friends on the road. Excellent PR!

[Dennis]

Mel - you are getting awfully defensive. I'm not attacking you. I am making a statement that everyone needs to do their part. At a local show recently, we had one boxer who had a small crowd of about 20-30 fans cheering for him. He made a concerted effort to bring family and friends to the show. If everyone did that, we would have packed venues all the time.

[Dennis]

It looks like USA Boxing's sponsor Everlast is stepping up and outfitting the USA team much better. They are even working on a special line for the elite boxers. I applaud them for it. That is what I had hoped they would do as that gets other boxers interested in their product line. I have already purchased 2 AIBA approved Everlast headgear and a few other items made by Everlast in the last 1.5 months.

[JMac]

It looks like USA Boxing's sponsor Everlast is stepping up and outfitting the USA team much better. They are even working on a special line for the elite boxers. I applaud them for it. That is what I had hoped they would do as that gets other boxers interested in their product line. I have already purchased 2 AIBA approved Everlast headgear and a few other items made by Everlast in the last 1.5 months.

Interim CEO Mike Martino, national coach Ed Weichers and Andrew Madigan were in NYC recently for an annual NCBA show at the NYAC and met with Everlast while in town for that very reason to tell them they needed to step it up. I am glad to hear the message got through.

[Dennis]

Jmac - I haven't seen the Everlast outfits yet, but they should arrive Thursday or Friday at the latest. These uniforms won't be the new "special" Team USA uniforms as they still have to design them and get them approved by USA Boxing. Hopefully those new unifroms will be something unique and well-liked by the boxers and be available for international competitions in early 2010.

[Kolya]

So the national team will actually get decent uniform rather than something that looks like it was bought out of the Titleboxing catalogue?

[Dennis]

So the national team will actually get decent uniform rather than something that looks like it was bought out of the Titleboxing catalogue?

For this tournament it is stock looking uniforms - red and blue and each top has a grey stripe down the sides. It is like a polyester material. The trunks - red and blue each have a white waistband. These uniforms are not the specially designed ones for USA Boxing's national team. Those won't be worn by our boxers until sometime in 2010.

It is just that this team has been given more by Everlast than the prior teams in 2009. I'm hoping that it is a good sign of things to come.

[coachrl]

Dennis do you get really nervous when your son fights, and are you anxious to know the results immediately after he fights when he is fighting outside the U.S

[Dennis]

Dennis do you get really nervous when your son fights, and are you anxious to know the results immediately after he fights when he is fighting outside the U.S

I get more nervous when my sons or daughters go out on New Years, drive in the snow, fly overseas, visit foreign countries and many other things. I do get anxious waiting to hear about international bouts when I'm not there.

[coachrl]

Dennis, are you there though?

[Kolya]

Does anyone know if Vasyl Lomanchenko is the Ukrainian 132?

[Dennis]

Dennis, are you there though?

No, I'm in Michigan. My son Jordan went with the team and the coaches assigned for the trip.

[Dennis]

Does anyone know if Vasyl Lomanchenko is the Ukrainian 132?

I was hoping to see the list of boxers, but it hasn't been released. Maybe we will see something on Thursday before the bouts start.

[Dennis]

The boxing will take place at the Tennis Center in Khanty-Mansiysk.
The draw is on Thursday. Preliminary action starts on Thursday @ 6:00pm.
Quarter-finals are on Friday 2-4pm and 6-9pm.
Semi-Finals are Saturday from 1-6pm.
Finals are Sunday, December 20, 2010 @ 12-6pm. Remember that those are all local Siberian times. They are 10 hours ahead of me (EST) so just subtract 10 hours to figure out when they are boxing here in the U.S. - eastern std time zone (very late at night/early in the morning).

The USA Boxing roster consists of 8 athletes:
51kg - Louie Byrd
54kg - Adam Lopez
60kg - Duran Caferro
69kg - Errol Spence
75kg - Terrell Gausha
81kg - Robert Brant
91kg - Jordan Shimmell
91+kg - Javier Torres

[Dennis]

Tournament organizers told the USA delegation that the finals of the World Cup of Petroleum Countries will be broadcast on the Russian TV station RTR. I don't know if that means it will be available on-line or some other way in the U.S.

The countries that are going to box in the tournament are:
Russia - two teams
Kazakhstan
Azerbaijan
Ukraine
Moldova
Latvia
Armenia
Sweden
France
Serbia
Belarus

[Dennis]

Here is an article in the Grand Rapids Press about my son, Jordan Shimmell, boxing in the World Cup of Petroleum Countries Tournament

http://www.mlive.com/boxing/index.ssf/2 ... ordan.html

[coachrl]

I wonder if they will be taping ALL four rounds (days) of boxing and just televising the finals on Russian RTR network. There has to be an internet savvy or good hacker among us who could find the web site and get in somehow in order for us to view the fights. Anyone??