St Marys boxer signs lucrative US contract - from the Mt Druit St Marys Standard - 12th Jan 2011. This content is protected St Marys boxer Luke Boyd has signed a lucrative contract to fight in the United States. This content is protected The 23-year-old from St Marys has spent the past five years taking on opponents in the US Signing a contract with the new league for the next three years, Boyd will spend six months of every year in the US, training twice a day and getting bonuses for every bout he wins. The indigenous boxer started 13 years ago after switching from rugby league. And he said he hasn’t looked back. “I was too small for footy and my old man was taking me to the gym for extra fitness so I just stuck with it,” he said. “I never thought I’d get this far. This is a new series - it popped up at the right time - a dream come true. “I was looking to turn pro but I’m making more money staying where I am now with this new contract.” The series includes four teams from the US, four from Europe and four from Asia. Boyd is part of the US line-up. They all fight as a team and the top two from each country go head-to-head. Fighters had to be in the top 10 in the world to be offered a spot. Boyd has competed at the Beijing Olympics, Oceania Championships in 2008 and represented Australia at the World Championships in 2007. Most of Luke “Too Bad” Boyd’s opponents have a height advantage over him but he reckons he’s got the goods.
How will this affect those who want to compete at olympics and world titles, obviously no Pros but what about Am style and scroing but getting paid. most of the other people going to the olympics are pros in so many sports i wonder if this will change what happens there
What's the actual point/purpose to the whole thing? What, he'd rather stay fighting with his headgear on and his padded pillow gloves for the rest of his days or go pro and try and forge a career and chase a world title. It just sounds like a Claytons version for a pro!
how does this work??? if theyre getting paid they cant be amatuers can they?? or is it they cant go to the olympics if they get paid?
" The WSB is a boxing competition without headguards or vests, with professional-style scoring, three judges and one referee and one supervisor. A WSB match consists of five bouts, with each bout consisting of five rounds of three minutes each. The team with most wins from five bouts wins the match. There are five weight categories: Bantamweight (54kg), Lightweight (61kg), Middleweight (73kg), Light heavyweight (85kg) and Heavyweight (91+kg). Each team has a minimum squad of 10 boxers and a maximum of 20 boxers, that is a minimum of two boxers in each weight category. The team is made up of both national boxers and foreign boxers, with at least three foreign boxers required in a squad of ten, up to six in a squad of 20." http://www.worldseriesboxing.com/about/about-wsb.aspx
from what i can tell its somewhat of a transition stage between pros and ams.... the boxers in the World Series Boxing thing such as Luke can fight in professional styled fights without head gear and still remain their olympic eligabilty so long as the only fight within the WSB they aren't aloud to have full professional fights and the rules are somewhat a mix between ams and pros Luke fights for the Los Angeles Madators http://www.worldseriesboxing.com/teams/los-angeles/squad-composition.aspx
I just love the fact they have so few weight divisions. Pro boxing would be awesome if it had only 5, hell I'd be very happy with 8-10
as a person who has put on "promoted" amatuer boxing shows in nsw, there is money for leading amatuers to make .. as amatuer shows become more like professional shows with ring girls, sponsord table's, using the latest tecnology by projecting onto the big screen, sponsor signs, getting all local media envolved .. we are no longer charging $15-$25 a ticket its more like $30 -40 as we look to give attract the leading amatuers to fight on our cards by giving them "cash under the table" so today's amatuers leading amatuers are being treated like pro's
Very much the Olympic model being repeated. Who could ever forget the American Dream Team basketballers staying in 5 star hotels instead of the Olympic Village.
amateurs have been paid under the table for ages, heath ellis was paid to fight as an amateur on pro/am cards and thats just one example, nothing new here other than its some TV reality show, of course he gets paid, does anyone go on a TV reality show for free? lets see how he goes finance wise once the show is over.
