Regular Pros to fight at Olympics

[Tarquin Tarpaulin IV]

You heard it here first..........

May be too short notice for Rio but watch this space...

[Tarquin Tarpaulin IV]

Told you;)


Top professional boxers could finally be granted the right to compete in the Olympics under new proposals being considered by the sport's governing body AIBA.
Restrictions which currently rule professional fighters out of the Games are set to be abolished at an AIBA Commissions meeting in Manchester this week, Press Association Sport has reported.
Under current AIBA rules introduced in 2013, professional boxers are eligible to go to the Olympics provided they have had less than 15 paid bouts and sign a short-term contract committing themselves to AIBA's professional arm, APB.
However, it is understood the failure of APB to make the desired impact, coupled with AIBA president Ching-Kuo Wu's relentless drive towards a full merger of the former professional and amateur codes, has put the Olympic eligibity criteria firmly back on top of the agenda.
The new plan could allow any professional boxer - irrespective of age or experience - to become instantly available to represent their country at an Olympics provided they sign with their respective national body.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/boxing/2016/022 ... -olympics/

[Mighty Atom]

BREAKING NEWS

Top professional boxers will become eligible to compete in this summer's Rio Olympics under radical new proposals being pushed through by the sport's world governing body, AIBA.

Its president, Dr Ching-Kuo Wu, has indicated that the last remaining barriers preventing full-time professionals competing in the Games are set to be abolished within a matter of months.

In an interview with Press Association Sport, Wu said: "We want the best boxers to come to the Olympic Games. It is AIBA's 70th birthday, and we want something to change - not after four years, but now.

"It is an IOC policy to have the best athletes in the Games, and of the international federations, AIBA is probably the only one without professional athletes in the Olympics.

"We already have our own professionals, APB and WSB boxers, in the Games - [and] we will go further."

Pressed on whether the change could realistically be made in time to affect eligibility for the Rio Olympics this summer, Wu replied: "According to our statutes it is absolutely possible."

[mike222]

This is wrong on so many levels.I do not want to see the likes of Golovkin or Kovalev fighting a teenager .

[Furey]

Completely wrong and stupid idea. Won't happen.

How would you manage it? What would be the selection process? Rio is also only months away.

Keep the Olympics to amateur boxing otherwise - it's the crème de la crème of the amateur game and let it remain that way. It's what the majority aim for.

What about all these government grants and sponsorship that's gone into supporting these young amateurs to reach the games?

Imagine GGG v some 18 year old amateur?

Daft.

[locoxelbox]

Why do people believe all Olympians are 18 years old??? The average age of the 2012 male Olympians were 24 years and the medallists were of 24,5 years. And it´s not that older is better just because they have more experience. Anthony Joshua, who was 22, beat Roberto Cammarelle, who was 32 in London.
Robeisy Ramirez, who was 18 beat Andrew Selby who was 23, Vasyl Lomachenko was only 20 when he beat Khedafi Djelkhir, who was 24 in Beijing, and so on.

[mike222]

Fair point but at London 2012 the Australian heavyweight was only 17 and there only has to be one mismatch for the competition at Rio to hurt our sport.

[locoxelbox]

Fair point but at London 2012 the Australian heavyweight was only 17 and there only has to be one mismatch for the competition at Rio to hurt our sport.

Yes, but he (Jai Opetaia) had qualified and he was a World junior champion. And he only lost by one point to the eventual bronze medalist.

Canelo Alvarez, Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera were all pros at 15-16 years, why shouldn´t they be able to fight in the Olympics at 17 (nowadays the minimum age is 18 for men (date of birth) and 19 for women (year of birth)).

Felix Verdejo was 17 and reached the quarter-finals before losing a 14-9 dec. to Vasyl Lomachenko who was the reigning Olympic champ and soon after became a pro World champ.

Claressa Shields was 17 and beat much more experienced fighters including Anna Laurell, a 2-time World champ and 3-time european champ, who was 32 years old.

In the 2012 London Games there were plenty of boxers who had WSB experience (5 round pro bouts with no headgear, pro bandage and smaller gloves than in Olympic boxing) and none of those won gold.

What I mean is it will be no walk in the park for those pros who will give it a try.

[mike222]

Opetaia would have struggled against full time pros in 2012 however there are far many more considerations than that.John Dennen's excellent boxing news article highlighted some of those.For me this is not workable in 2016-it requires more thought and planning and should at least be deferred until 2020

[locoxelbox]

For me this is not workable in 2016-it requires more thought and planning and should at least be deferred until 2020

I think it will work but I agree it would have been better to wait until 2020.

[gregor]

This is wrong on so many levels.I do not want to see the likes of Golovkin or Kovalev fighting a teenager .

I doubt the best pro boxers would be attracted by the possibility of fighting at Olympic Games. 4-5 fights in a couple of days, with no money and realistic chance of losing (you can't reschedule in case of injury). And there is not much they can get from it either - Gold Medal could be really useful for a fighter who plans turning pro, but not to the one who is already pro champion.

I know pros fighting teenagers sounds bad, but basically it is the same situation as it was already before 90s, with "professional amateur" boxers from Soviet block (I understand Cuba continues this tradition).