Fighters are turning pro too late.

Naoya Inoue turned pro at 19 and from the 5th fight on, he's only been in world title fights going 19-0 with 17 KOs.

 

Blame the Chinese. Beterbiev would have won gold and turned pro in 2009. We could have seen Kovalev-Beterbiev.

Kovalev turned pro late because he wanted to go to the Olympics. He barely lost to Beterbiev for 2008 qualifiers. So Beterbiev ruined Kov's hopes for an Olympic berth but still did not get a medal.

I heard Klimas was in contact with Kovalev as early as 2003.

 

Didn't they get rid if boxing at the Olympics?
That would force people to go pro

 

Nowadays it tends to be a disadvantage starting late your pro career, but since it depends on many things (the country you come from, sponsors, other fighters, managers etc.), it can also allow you to quickly move to top and title fights, if you're good enough for, of course. It might allow you (not necessarily) to keep a level to a later age (not like the Thai fighters starting as kids literally, but ending up like in their late 20's or early 30's at best). To me, the problem is not mainly when one decides to turn pro, as if the fighter's good enough, he'll progress well more or less, but the number of fights one makes. For sure staying too long as an amateur brings you nothing serious or some point.

 

Oleksandr Khyhzniak is gonna be the same unfortunately. He's 27 now, he's waiting for the next Olympics so he'll be 29 when he turns pro

 

Just about every fighter whose elite has better longevity. They don't fight as often these days. Helps an older guy lik Artur.

 

The thing you have to understand is that a lot of these Eastern Europeans are making better livings as amateurs than as pros

Yes, they could turn pro at 18-19 and go to Germany and find out it's as corrupt as the day is long
No matter how good they are they aren't getting a shot at Felix Sturm or Marco Huck
GGG went to Germany at 25 with a Olympic Silver medal, Gold at the Worlds, 365-5 amateur record and they wouldn't even give him a ****ing sniff..
They make pennies on undercards

They stay as amateurs on the national team and get housing, cars, grocery and fairly generous stipends
They get more fame in their cities fighting at the World Championships and Olympics than they ever could on some lame German undercard that isn't even televised back home

The only reason we know the names GGG, Lomachenko, Usyk, Bivol, etc is BECAUSE they were absolutely dominant amateurs with incredible records and medal counts
Without that they don't get on any televised American card...ever

Of course the calculus is different for an American fighter
150 amateur fights is the ideal number (Spence, Haney, Shakur), but of course taking more (225-250) like Oscar De la Hoya, Shane Mosley, Shawn Porter is excellent too
Ideally, a fighter starts at 8-10yrs old and turn pro at 20. Hanging around until 22yrs is only good if the boxer has a real shot at the olympics. Medaling at the olympics demonstrably raises a boxers signing bonus and clearly expedites their career.

For an American there isn't any upside to turning pro after 22 unless they just came to the game late

 

Funny thing is he has only himself to blame. He got robbed in the olympics in 2008, he should have turned pro after that. Instead he waited another 4 years for 2012 games only to be robbed again

 

Yea that guy's about to be another wasted talent

 

What BS, even when he was younger it was still Beterbiev smash!

 

Nah, they are doing it right. You see, after 6-10 fights, fans will start claiming they are the best the division ever seen and a the old timers were just raw and untrained.