good for olympic boxing - terrible for boxing as a whole what would boxing be today if de la hoya hadnt won gold for instance - the olymnpics was a good stage to bring up the top talent and make them into superstars. All this is going to do is have pro beat up on tomnorrows talent and maybe even ruin their confidence (and in turn their careers) from that moment onwards i think this is a terrible decision, i really do it will be strange to see what boxing looks like without all the corruption and bull sh1t that comes along with championship fights these days - so thats one positive i suppose!
Ahh but how many pro's will be disqualified for Steroids with Olympic testing? Quite a few i am betting Floyd won't be allowed his hand cream any more:deal
It's a game changer no doubt. If the pro's do participate then amateur boxing will have been changed forever and not necessarily for the better. The biggest accolade an amateur can obtain is now that much harder to achieve. It will take some getting used to but it will bring interest back to Olympic boxing and should the unthinkable happen and an amateur beat a professional world champion to win gold then the rewards would be even bigger for when they turn pro. Personally I'd like to see it happen just for the novelty factor though every top amateur now aiming for Rio must be severely doubting their chances and funding may disappear for some amateurs as there chances of winning a medal is lessened.
I agree, it's just logical, even if it sounds weird. But times changes, and rather than not have boxe at olympics or to have thrash quality, well, allowing pro would surely generate huge interest, and maybe even allow spectacular matchups.
I am sorry to disappoint you, but olympics are totally filled with peds user since decades. Ever heard of Marion Jones? She passed 160 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :scaredas olympic style drug tests, and she never tested positive. At the end of his career, she admitted of having constantly been on juice. Olympic drug tests are a joke, like every other one. Drug test are more an IQ tests, meaniong you get caught only if you really **** up the preparation.
Imagine if all the best heavies from the world join. We'll see match-ups we would probably never see in the pros. Fury - Wlad Haye - Fury Fury - Wilder Wilder - Jennings All these guys will be fighting each other to represent their country or fighting for the gold. And guess what...they won't be stalling the fights with purse bids and sh*t. There won't be any politics. It'll be great for boxing. It'll be great for world exposure.
Wlads success isn't even a given. All that holding and fouling will get him thrown out and Haye would of beat Wlad if it was an amateur contest.
Absolute bs that statement http://www.insidethegames.biz/olymp...26-sports-after-second-round-rush-for-tickets-
If they allow pros in the olympics then there MUST be national boxing federations that can test their boxers all year around with WADA accredited orgs. It could be a chance to start cleaning up.
Did you watch the London Olympics it did 10 thousand sell outs for british fighters, the only tickets available at the start were Womens football - didnt go, the score was like 5-4 or something...
The rules only allow pros who have like under 10 or 12 fights and have not long signed pro contacts. You won't be seeing Wlad there!