Olympics Achievements: should we take it into account when ranking fighters?

Outstanding thread!

 

Definitely. As I said earlier, too much is left to chance in the Olympics for it to count strongly against a fighter. You have to be the right age to line up with the once-in-four-year event, have to meet the right people, etc. Everyone can have a chance at turning pro & making a name for themselves there. That just flatly isn’t true on the Olympic scene.

 

A stellar amateur does not automatically equal a stellar pro doe,

Kelcie Banks comes to mind.

 

When you are looking at guys winning amateur tournaments, the question that always get asked is "who was there?"
The truth of it is, a lot of guys simply don't have the money to get to tournaments, or don't have the money to get to all the tournaments.
There is a young man right now that I am aware of, and have been since he was 7 or 8. He is about 16 now and nobody knows about him because he can't afford to travel much. At 12 he was something like 47-2 with over 40 stoppage wins. Since then he has traveled a bit nationally and dropped a couple decisions because he was exposed to different styles, but he has also won a national tournament in Mexico with first round stoppages in every fight. He has been getting gifts from promoters in Mexico since he was 10.
He won't have a great amateur pedigree. But, what will happen is that he will be on ESPN Mexico every month and all his learning process fights will take place there.

 

I hope this isn’t the last I hear of him!

 

No, we only rate achievements in professional boxing. Amateur boxing is its own sport and should have its own greatness defined separately. You cannot rate overall greatness of the two when they are such different achievements and different sports.

 

100% (unless it was at home. home fighter medals mean much less.)

kinda like climbing k2. not the big name but probably the greater achievement.

 

He is my retirement plan, so I share your sentiment.

 

Not for pro fights,imo.

 

the pro/am classes are different.

but is a guy with 5 pro fights at the lowest level gonna do **** to olympic loma in a pro fight. no.

 

I do. Even though amateur achievements aren’t the strongest criteria when comparing professional careers, it can legitimately serve as a tie breaker