Can anyone explain this logic to me? In James DeGale's last year or so as an amateur he fought Darren Sutherland,George Groves, the best Russian,the best American, the best Cuban etc etc and yet now he's turned pro he will be competing at a SIGNIFICANTLY lower level for probably two/three years:huh The same thing happened with Amir Khan, who apart from developing physically(as you'd expect of a 17/18/19 year old, learned very little in his first couple of years as a pro due to the fact that his level of opposition dropped dramatically. Thoughts please
Are you serious? The differences are night and day. They don't even punch correctly in the amateurs, you have headgear on, bodywork is no credited and hence the styles are adapted to this formula. It's only a few rounds. There is nobody that puts pressure on you for every second, nobody that is gonna punch you really hard, test your body, test your stamina. There is not a wide range of styles.
A good promoter should give you the right tests at the right time in the pros. Yes you fight a lower calibre fighter on paper compared to what you fought in the amateurs, but its about getting a grounding in the pro game. There is no way you can suddenly fight the best American in the pros like you did in the amateurs. So..DeGale has gotta face Pavlik now? Come on. You should be matched with pressure fighters, counterpunchers, the odd puncher, somebody durable that will test stamina. Eventually progressing through the levels. Amir Khan was not matched correctly. He fought the same fight about 10 times against feather fists with the same style.
If you want to see how a talented Olympic gold medalist should be progressed in the pro ranks, check out Ray Leonards early career under Angelo Dundee.
Andrade would win very few fights in the amateurs. He's hard to beat in the pros, though. Just an example to make you see the difference.
Plus in the amateurs you could land a six punch combination and still end up getting only one point. And a crunching left hook is scored equal to a piffy jab. The body shot **** really pisses me off too; you basically have to break the opponent in half with the shot to get a point scored.
Gamboa is one that is been brought along very well IMO, with the possible exception of last night. He's been fighting winners. Guys that are used to winning. Guys that can punch. A guy that could take him into the latter stages. Now he's ready for a shot at Larios.
Oscar only beat Bredahl though, he just wanted any belt at that weight before he outgrew it. He was on that "5 weight world champ" mission and wanted an easy one to get started.
It's practically a different sport. There's plenty of top amateurs who did **** in the pros, and vice versa.
i tend to agree with wot dave is saying. if a amateur only has ,say 25 fights,wins 15,and turns pro,these men should be brought on slowly mr degale,he has been boxing am international for a couple of years,top level,and a lot of these amateurs are more like pro's,cubans,ruskies,chinese ect,why should mr degale be getting easy fights like above amateur,i never have understood this. if i turned pro after my 20 fights and got put in with degale as a 1st fight for both,i would be a bit pissed off with my promoter
ridiculous so what you want degale to be thrown in against higher opposition like quigley or maybe even brian magee way earlier, give me a break he needs to get comfortable fighting as a pro its so different it takes quite a while to adjust before it comes normality, little things like the ring walk, not wearing a vest all need ad******g to or otherwise he will not be relaxed and comfortable too much too soon he will get beat, look at gamboa he is being moved on quite wel although some would say quite fast but gamboa is 6 years older than degale and more talented
ridculous why mate,read my post,i dident say put degale in with the british champ,but put them in with someone half decent,not some eastern euro loser,he is the olympic gold medelest and not some novice amateur boxer just turned pro leaning the trade ps,he needs to get used to his ring walk,i like it,good reason to put him in with some loser,hell lets put him in with a flyweight,with a 0-20 record,just so he gets used to his ringwalk
Your right mate.... He shouldn't be fighting no mark eurobums...He should be fighting decent fighters like say Yassine El Maachi, Tony Randall, Geraint Harvey, Chris Johnson guys like that... The middleweight division is rich with capable fighters.... No need to bring in no marks.