Fighters are turning pro too late.

I think people should turn pro at around age 21-22, certainly no later. Any later and you're starting to be set in your own ways, especially if you think you're oh so good. Specialising in the unpaid construct over 3 rounds with very clean fighting vs pros have their differences.

Also, as you said...it takes time to build a star and unfortunately this is a business. Incidentally, both Lomachenko and Beterbiev have been ruthlessly ducked even though Lomachenko doesn't possess Beterbiev-like power.
Beterbiev's career is proof that you need to build your brand rather than being a monster turning pro at 28.

 

Lomachenko and Beterbiev are good examples of this and they were moved very fast after turning pro. Golovkin turned pro when he was 24. It took him five or six years to get a title shot and ten plus years to lure some decent opponents to fight him and make a name to get paid. By comparison Pacquiao and Mayweather turned pro at 16-18 and got titles by 20-21, started making big money around 30, etc. If you cut ten years out of their careers, that's half and they'd have made almost nothing, or accomplished barely anything.

Historically, you need a belt by the time you are 26 in order to maximize your prime and career.

 

Also, they don't get the time to build up their name and the money they can demand.

Mostly they're former soviet bloc fighters who don't have a natural, in built fan base in America(where they tend to fight), so you have guys like Beterbiev, who is perfectly capable to fight for a world title NOW, but finds it hard to get fights because he doesn't bring in big money, so his opponent doesn't want to risk it.

 

I think 24-25 is the best age. You have to get a strong amateur career under your belt. If the stars align then at least one championship and Olympic game.

I think AJ got it spot on, I don't think you wanna lose your prime years in the amateurs like Rigo or Usyk but if your as skilled as them then it might work out okay.

 

It's not fault of Beterbiev that he lost in both olympic games, he arguably won both fights.

 

he beat the life out of the chinese guy

 

Yes, China was shady in Beijing 2008 (lol), they went from having one medal to having 4 in those games, Cammarelle probably felt like a million dollars when he stopped the chinese in the final.

 

I think the ideal is you start training when you are about 6, get about a hundred amateur fights for experience plus one Olympic medal to prove you are elite and boost your profile, then you turn pro at 18-20. That's how Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Patterson, Bowe, De La Hoya, Leonard, W. Klitschko, M. Spinks, Hill, Mayweather Jr, Jones Jr, Whitaker, Ward, Khan, LaBarba, Mugabi, and Zamora all did it. Benvenuti was 22, Carbajal was 22, Holyfield was 22, Taylor was 22, Lewis was 23, Tszyu was 23, Zaragoza was 23.

Laszlo Papp, Teofilo Stevenson, and Felix Savon might have 3 gold medals, but they got almost no fame or money.

 

I agree with you they should start boxing early and they should turn pro earlier than some of the EE fighters nowadays, however I wouldn't recommend every fighter turns pro at 18-20. 23 maybe but at 18-20 you haven't even stopped growing nor could you possibly be experienced enough . It's a tricky question to decide but I guess there's no one age fits all, I would say a strong amateur career is necessary, at least one Olympic and championship if possible.

I like these EE fighters are being fastracked to a title, a lot of UK and US fighters spend far too long fighting bums and get moved along to slowly.

 

I definitely think you can have success even if you turn pro late. Some examples would be Nate Campell (didn't box til 24 or 25), Amnat Ruenrog (didn't turn pro til 32 or 33 became IBF champ, started boxing at 27), Antonio Tarver didn't turn pro til 26 I think.

All these guys are exceptions to the rule though. I do think that you want to turn pro when you are ready, if you force it, you might end up with losses and those will ultimately hurt you more than waiting a little bit.

 

The problem is too many guys getting long in the tooth in the amateurs, getting to the pro game and never doing anything before they retire; or alternately guys who turn pro and then take forever to make their move because they are brought along too slow. You can move slow if you are a teenager or twenty, but if you turn pro old you need to skip that slow build up phase, go for a title after maybe ten fights, and don't just fight twice a year like I see some of these guys doing. We don't need to find out you can't hack it at 30, or that you might have been an ATG at your retirement party.

Ryota Murata is 12 fights in, 31 years old, not even a contender yet. Or how about Eduard Troyanovsky not turning pro until he was 29? He was 35 before anyone even heard about him.

Also, Amnat Ruenrong is an exception since he was a Muay Thai champion before he started boxing. Most of the guys who got titles in 3-5 fights were former Muay Thai champions. The skills transfer well to boxing. He also belongs to that group of famous boxers who honed their talents in prison boxing programs like Qawi, Hopkins, or Ron Lyle.