Michael Smith's United States Senior Rankings

[Dennis]

Exactly, opinions are opinions and that is what this thread is about. Michael Smith's opinion about boxers around the world and how he ranks them.

[LRSJ]

I watched the fight live on the internet stream. I thought Jordan clearly outpointed Kisner. It was not a blowout but it was not controversial either .

[Jma05]

well after hearing you 4 say shimmell won and after hearing alot say kisner won it just comes down to opinion. either way it was a close decision of the score 9-6. both are good boxers but again opinions are opinions

[Jma05]

by the way. i might ask this cause i have always wanted to know. what are the qualifications for the olympic games and the youth olympic games. since everyone is probablly looking at this blog you might have a answer for me. i always wanted to know

[Dennis]

2010 Youth Olympic Games - the only qualifier is the 2010 Youth World Championships. If a boxer doesn't compete in the Youth Worlds they will not be qualified to go to the Youth Olympics. To qualify for the Youth Worlds for USA, the boxers had to win the 2010 USA U-19 tournament.

[Jma05]

so is it anyone that competes at the youth worlds gets to qualify or is it like only the top 8 at the worlds then get to go to the youth olympics. i say this because i know top 8 at the senior worlds qualify for the olympic games. so is it the same thing with the youth worlds and the youth olympics?

[Dennis]

2012 Olympics for USA boxers: Must qualify for the Olympic Trials by winning or placing high enough in a qualifying event and then the boxer must win the Olympic Trials. After winning the Olympic Trials, the boxers must qualify for the Olympics by placing high enough in a qualifying tournament. The requirements are different for the various weight classes with HW and SHW being the most stringent as only 16 boxers in each of those two weight classes competed in the 2008 Olympics with only 3 in each from the Americas. All other weight classes had 28 or 29 boxers in each with either 6 or 7 from the Americas.

The qualifying process for the USA Olympic Trials has not yet been determined or at least it has not been made public yet. My guess is it will start with the 2010 National PAL tourney as the first qualifying event for the Olympic Trials which will probably take place in the summer of 2011.

The first qualifying event for the Olympics will most likely be the 2011 World Championships in Busan, Korea from Sept 16 - Oct 1, 2011.

The Pan Am Games might be another qualifier for the Americas. It is scheduled for Oct 13-30, 2011 in Guadalajara, Mexico. There will then be other continental qualifiers for the Americas in early 2012 (first 3 or 4 months).

The Olympics in London are scheduled for July 27, 2012 to August 18, 2012.

[Dennis]

so is it anyone that competes at the youth worlds gets to qualify or is it like only the top 8 at the worlds then get to go to the youth olympics. i say this because i know top 8 at the senior worlds qualify for the olympic games. so is it the same thing with the youth worlds and the youth olympics?

Good Q, but I don't know the answer. My guess is that it will be limited to some number and it may vary for the different weight classes. AIBA indicates that the Youth World Championships in Baku is the only qualifying event for the Youth Olympic Games, but that is all the detail they have given.

[Dennis]

For the '08 Olympics: 283 boxers from 77 federations participated.
The 283 boxers were divided between Europe (91), Asia (62), Africa (60), America (61) and Oceania (11) with Russia the only country to have a competitor in each of the 11 weight categories. Morocco, Cuba, China and Kazakhstan all qualified 10 boxers while USA, France and Australia have nine each.
48kg - 29 boxers
51kg - 27 boxers
54kg - 27 boxers
57kg - 28 boxers
60kg - 27 boxers
64kg - 28 boxers
69kg - 29 boxers
75kg - 28 boxers
81kg - 28 boxers
91kg - 16 boxers
91+kg - 16 boxers

[Dennis]

The IOC permitted boxing to have 286 athletes at the 2008 Olympics (I'm not sure why only 283 participated).

For the 2012 Games, AIBA decided on three Olympic weight classes for women considering the continued quota of 286 total boxers imposed by the I.O.C.

In order to add 36 women for London (12 boxers in each of the 3 weight classes), the men’s field had to be reduced to 250 in 10 weight classes instead of 11.

Since the field for men has been reduced by 36 boxers with one weight class eliminated, approx 7 or 8 boxers will have to be eliminated from the remaining weight classes. Since 91kg and 91+kg already were limited to 16 boxers, I hope that AIBA only reduces the quotas for the other weight classes. I predict:
49kg - 27 boxers
52kg - 28 boxers
56kg - 28 boxers
60kg - 27 boxers
64kg - 27 boxers
69kg - 27 boxers
75kg - 27 boxers
81kg - 27 boxers
91kg - 16 boxers
91+kg - 16 boxers

[Dennis]

I personally would rather see the men's quota of athletes spread evenly among the 10 weight classes with 25 boxers in each weight class.

[Jma05]

i agree with you on that one

[locoxelbox]

so is it anyone that competes at the youth worlds gets to qualify or is it like only the top 8 at the worlds then get to go to the youth olympics. i say this because i know top 8 at the senior worlds qualify for the olympic games. so is it the same thing with the youth worlds and the youth olympics?

The Youth Olympics will include 66 boxers, eg 6 in every weight. But no country can qualify more than three boxers. So if Russia for example qualifies 7 medalists at the World Youths, they must choose three to represent them in Singapore.
This way the Youth Olympics get a more global participation.
The 44 medalists at the World Youths will qualify and then 20 boxers presumably from countries which haven´t qualified boxers. 2 quotas will be given to Singapore as host country.
More info here:
http://www.aiba.org/documents/site1/Eve ... %20eng.pdf
http://www.aiba.org/documents/site1/Eve ... %20ENG.pdf

[locoxelbox]

The IOC permitted boxing to have 286 athletes at the 2008 Olympics (I'm not sure why only 283 participated).

For the 2012 Games, AIBA decided on three Olympic weight classes for women considering the continued quota of 286 total boxers imposed by the I.O.C.

In order to add 36 women for London (12 boxers in each of the 3 weight classes), the men’s field had to be reduced to 250 in 10 weight classes instead of 11.

Since the field for men has been reduced by 36 boxers with one weight class eliminated, approx 7 or 8 boxers will have to be eliminated from the remaining weight classes. Since 91kg and 91+kg already were limited to 16 boxers, I hope that AIBA only reduces the quotas for the other weight classes. I predict:
49kg - 27 boxers
52kg - 28 boxers
56kg - 28 boxers
60kg - 27 boxers
64kg - 27 boxers
69kg - 27 boxers
75kg - 27 boxers
81kg - 27 boxers
91kg - 16 boxers
91+kg - 16 boxers

The olympic quotas will be the following:

49kg - 26 boxers
52kg - 26 boxers
56kg - 28 boxers
60kg - 28 boxers
64kg - 28 boxers
69kg - 28 boxers
75kg - 28 boxers
81kg - 26 boxers
91kg - 16 boxers
91+kg - 16 boxers

[Dennis]

I knew they would slight the big guys again. 91kg & 91+kg should get at least 20 each.

[Dennis]

so is it anyone that competes at the youth worlds gets to qualify or is it like only the top 8 at the worlds then get to go to the youth olympics. i say this because i know top 8 at the senior worlds qualify for the olympic games. so is it the same thing with the youth worlds and the youth olympics?

The Youth Olympics will include 66 boxers, eg 6 in every weight. But no country can qualify more than three boxers. So if Russia for example qualifies 7 medalists at the World Youths, they must choose three to represent them in Singapore.
This way the Youth Olympics get a more global participation.
The 44 medalists at the World Youths will qualify and then 20 boxers presumably from countries which haven´t qualified boxers. 2 quotas will be given to Singapore as host country.
More info here:
http://www.aiba.org/documents/site1/Eve ... %20eng.pdf
http://www.aiba.org/documents/site1/Eve ... %20ENG.pdf

You can get a more global participation by enlarging the field. 6 boxers per weight class? Why not at least have 8 as it doesn't increase the number of days of competitions (3 days). I really think they should have at least 16 boxers per weight class (4 days of competition) and that way deserving boxers don't have to sit home.

[Dennis]

I think it is terrible to punish a country for being successful. If a country qualifies more than 3 boxers, they shouldn't have to be forced to keep some medalists at home.

[locoxelbox]

You can get a more global participation by enlarging the field. 6 boxers per weight class? Why not at least have 8 as it doesn't increase the number of days of competitions (3 days). I really think they should have at least 16 boxers per weight class (4 days of competition) and that way deserving boxers don't have to sit home.

The Youth Olympics are much smaller than the regular Olympics. These games have a max. of 3600 athletes (against 10.500 of the real Olympics) so 66 (against 286 in the Olympics) isn´t so crazy after all.

[Dennis]

I thought the Olympics were about having the top athletes compete and not about replacing the best with an athlete from Antarctica.

[DCAmateurBoxing]

I think it is terrible to punish a country for being successful. If a country qualifies more than 3 boxers, they shouldn't have to be forced to keep some medalists at home.

It's called the anti-Cuba rule. Youth Worlds from Guadalajara:

Cuba 4 Golds
Russia 1 Gold
Mexico 2 Golds
Ireland 1 Gold
USA 1 Gold
India 1 Gold
Puerto Rico 1 Gold

[chopzilla]

Alex Martin is ranked 8 at 152 but won the P.A.L. and looked very good in doing so. Why is he ranked lower than fighters who exited the tournament early?

[Dennis]

Alex Martin is ranked 8 at 152 but won the P.A.L. and looked very good in doing so. Why is he ranked lower than fighters who exited the tournament early?

What boxers in his rankings lost at 152 in the PAL?

Sometimes boxers do have an off day, but if you look at their overall portfolio you know that they should be ranked very high.

[Cowboys123]

What I don't seem to understand is why people talk so much trash? What happend to Joseph Mac Williams? People were saying he will win nationals blah blah blah? He lost to steve BuJaJ in the golden gloves finals at Madison sq garden last Friday. This kid is 19, with quickness, solid defense and a smart fighter who can box or slug depending on the situation. This kid is a force to be recking with, remembe this name folks!