I think amateur boxing has to.............

[Tantum]

If I were boxing for real, I'd rather just go straight to pro's. you might say, why Tantum, amateurs provides experience. I say, go blow a goat.

You get plenty of experience sparring, and training. that's what it's for damnit!

I think that amateur experience is entirely overrated, for many reasons. Amateur boxing is entirely different than Pro boxing ( other than the punching )

Take in point the scoring methods. Scoring is totally different in amateurs.

Take in point the headgear. I've heard from reliable sources that headgear does not protect you from brain injuries, it only diminishes cutting, and skull pain.

In fact, if anything, I'd rather fight without the headgear. With it, you are only sacrificing peripheral vision, which will cause you to take more damage in the long run.

I seriously think that amateur fighting leads to more brain injuries. You might not see the damage right away, but once it adds up, you're f***ed.

And not many people really care about amateur boxing anyways. You're not even getting paid to risk your health... It's just plain rediculous in my eyes.

[Keats]

Well its one way guys can get to represent their countries and fight at the Olympics!!!
Also can not remember the last amature here in Australia to die from boxing, so not sure i could agree with that!!!
Also if you look at the pro world champs a hell of alot of them represented their countries or had a great amature career so it would be hard not to say their amature career didn't help them!!!
So are you saying a kid at lets say age 12 to 13 should be a pro right away??? Or would it be better for the kids to get in a ring with head gear, very padded gloves and a ref that will stop the fight early rather than late???
You say it is totaly different in every way exept the punches, then why have so many guys won medals at the Olympic and then a few years later the are the Pro World Champs???

[TonyJ]

If the fighter has a good amatuer career it helps them to receive more recognition when they turne pro than if they had no amatuer background.

[Tantum]

TonyJ, that's the only reason I see why anyone would ever want to be an amateur... and it's just not worth it in my books.

If someone has 250 amateur fights, and then 30 pro fights, how can you say he got the most damage from the pro's? you fight MUCH more often in amateurs, and there's a much higher possibility to get second impact syndrome.

[TonyJ]

You do make a good point though.

[Keats]

When someone is fighting amature 3 or 4 rounders how many rounds do you think they are doing sparring???
What about once they turn pro and are fighting 10 to 12 rounders, how many rounds sparring are they then doing in the lead up for these fights???
Guys who are having 250 amature fights are fighting 2 to 3 times a week (like Kostya Tszyu used to do in Russia) wouldn't be doing that much sparring as they are fighting that often!!!
How many times a year are the pro fighters fighting??? Not many so in fighting 10 to 12 rounders and not fighting as often wouldn't they then have to do more sparring to keep in boxing shape???

[SugarRoyRobinson]

Nice post, Tantum. But I couldn't imagine going to pro right now.

Seriously, there would not be any other amateurs to fight in Professional.

Yeah, sparring provides experience, but you HAVE to fight sometime.

Generally it takes a few years to get enough skill to be a top-class pro. You cannot go a few years sparring & training without fighting.

Just my 2c.

[Tantum]

I just think that fighters should try to avoid extra risks. I mean, there's the saying "with risk is reward" but with amateur boxing, there isn't much reward. Because no one follows it, there aren't many boxers who were great amateurs making big first fight paydays like they used to.

[Lopman]

Hey, many great championship fighters started straight to Professional with no amateur bouts. I cannot remember the one I had in mind.

But I can remember that he lost his first 15 bouts to my knowledge.

And I'm sure Louis would have been discouraged if he was knocked down six times in his first professional bout(this happened in his first amateur).

I'm also sure Ali got some experience with his 200+ amateur bouts.

[JDizzle]

In your pro debut, you are basically paid for your amateur background. Your amateur record and accomplishments have a lot to do with your pro paydays.

If you went staright to the pro's, how would the pay you for your fist fight, just by looking at you? Or you don't get paid, until someone can tell how good you may be 10 years down the line when you actually learn something about the sport. Nobody goes straight to the NFL, NBA, PGA or the big leagues with growing there talent in an learning inviroment. Boxing is the same as the sports above, it is skill, athletic ability, experience, and art the must be learned before you go to the Major Leagues of Boxing, Pro.

Another thing, take a look at the injuries per 100,000 in amatuer boxing and then compare it to basketball, football and soccer then tell me what is safer? The injury rate is lower in boxing, fact.

The headgear protects the head, that is why it is so rare to see a amateur boxer lose consiousness, get cut or spill their blood for a sport, that doesn't pay? Wrong, I have travelled all over the world for free, kept out of trouble free, had a santuary ( the gym )to visit free, and been trained to make money for free, amateur boxing to me is my college before I go pro.

[emilynoah918]

Not at all, But selecting headgear is one of the difficult phase, If you want to get headgears for protection and sparring must read reviews first

[margaret thatcher]

If I wanted a career in boxing, I would definitely be willing to blow that goat in order to get a good amateur background, totally disagree with the op

[oogiebe]

I think amateur boxing has to.............

Get a TV contract and get more 'prestigious' tourneys.
Get a new Marketing team.

[margaret thatcher]

I liked wsb a lot

[Puncher7]

You can't start pro boxing at 8 years old. A guy who has been training and competing since 8 and has hundreds of competitive bouts once old enough to turn pro has a huge advantage of someone who has never competed. Even if they have been training since a young age and not competing its not the same. Plus where is the motivation to train if you aren't competing.

The only people who have a lot of success without a lot of amateur fights are usually heavyweights(like wilder) And even wilder went to the olympics and did SOME amateur stuff

[margaret thatcher]

Wonder if the OP was a total newb when he posted this?

[Shawn Flynn]

Have you ever been in the ring have you ever put on the headgear and boxing gloves not about the money it’s about being able to build your confidence it’s a confidence builder to be able to get in the ring and go toe to toe with somebody and it’s not about winning or losing it’s about knowing your limits. I had 49 amateur fights and 12 pro fights my record is an amateur was 44 and five with 29 knockouts my pro racket was 11 and one with 11 knockouts in the pros it wasn’t about money either it was about seeing if you were better than the next guy of course the money helps but it’s all not about the money.