Isn't it strange ??

[curtis wood]

when the 2 gold medalists have boxed they have been on a stacked cards, cant complain with last Saturdays show or the on in hull both top draw cards, they are probably the only 2 fighters that joe public have heard of and deserve top billing but they have a top supporting cast a long side them

[danconnollyeire]

To be fair I can see both points. Boxing's a strange sport. You go from fighting the best in the world consitently (some Cuban's are as good as top pro's and other amateur's who go on to be champs/contenders) to fighting nobody consistently, then some alrigters, to decent fighters, to quite good before you fight world class again. It's like there's a five year gap of level of opponent. The graph drops dramatically and picks up steep. Boxing is like no other sport

I agree with the above, however as others have said the life of a top class amateur is way different than it was a few years ago.

A few years ago, the top lads mostly had jobs (often manual jobs) and would train of an evening after work at their local club.

These days, the England lads are all full-time athletes. They live and train in Sheffield, with the best facilities, bet coaches, nutritionists and medical facilities etc. and travel the world fighting the top boxers.

To go from that to then fighting a 4 rounder against a journeyman cannot be good for their "development".

Not only that, previously the boxers started their pro careers way down the bill - these days they are boxing in gimme fights and they are top of the bill and it is that issue that needs to be addressed as much as the opponents, as the average fan who may not know any better is being sold something that isn't what they think it is.

Agreed. It's almost like being a top youth player at United... going on loan to a Ryman team for three years aint gonna help your development when you were used to played against the best in the country at your age group

[Controversial]

To be fair I can see both points. Boxing's a strange sport. You go from fighting the best in the world consitently (some Cuban's are as good as top pro's and other amateur's who go on to be champs/contenders) to fighting nobody consistently, then some alrigters, to decent fighters, to quite good before you fight world class again. It's like there's a five year gap of level of opponent. The graph drops dramatically and picks up steep. Boxing is like no other sport

But being a top amateur doesn't mean someone will be a great pro. Amateur boxing is completely different to the pro game, its about point scoring. Head-guards, standing counts and over protective refs means its fair less dangerous, you don't get roughed up or bashed about so much. Thats why plenty of great amateurs flop as pros.

Talking of great Cubans, 6'7" heavyweight Jorge Luis Gonzalez was a great amateur, he beat Lennox Lewis, Riddick Bowe and Tyrell Biggs as an amateur and ended with a 220-13 record. Bowe flattened him in their pro fight and he never achieved much either apart from beating nobodies.

I want bother mentioning Audley Harrison, lol