Some of you may remember him from The Contender: Season Four, where he advanced to the quarterfinals defeating Richard Gingras in a clash of previously unbeaten prospects only to drop a clear decision to eventual finalist Hino Ehikhamenor of Nigeria. Others - mainly those who closely follow US amateur boxing - may know him from before he turned pro, when he was 'always the bridesmaid' on the national scene making it to lots of finals but never getting the big one...highlighted by making the Olympic trials in 2004 only to get eliminated. Otherwise you have probably never heard of him...as he didn't really do much in the pros before The Contender and has done next to nothing since. He made a brief comeback fourteen months after the loss to Hino, fought twice in a fortnight, and hasn't made a single appearance since. That was three years and five months ago. So you might think he has hung up the gloves for good. ...except he didn't. :huh Today on his Facebook wall, Olawale Afolabi posted that he was hit so hard in sparring today with a body shot that he at first seriously worried some poop was coming out. He then cursed the name of Deon Elam for doing it to him. So, obviously he still boxes...and probably makes a decent wage off sparring for a world class guy like Afolabi...but despite being a professional boxer has been absent from the ring for real matches since 2010. It really makes you wonder about how bad management can be in the sport, or how low the pay is below the uppermost echelon, if someone can find it more lucrative to be a sparring partner than actively prizefighting. I mean, Elam is 33 years old, 6'4" at cruiser and with decent enough power to make someone like Afolabi nearly **** himself and need to vent about it on social media, and from what I recall wasn't completely devoid of skill and only ever lost to Hino which isn't too shameful. You have to wonder how it was he came to spend this long on the shelf, while still training and being involved with the sport in some capacity.
