More activity. To win a World title in the amateurs you fight something like 5 times in 7 days. Also you can't pick and choose your opponents.
i hate the scoring style of the amateurs ... as a rule of thumb it seems like "if you get hit YOU DONT LET YOUR MAN GET AWAY WITHOUT GIVING HIM a better shot". alot of the times there is little defense and its just slugging it out letting your headgear do the hard work
Fighting 15 rounds with headgear in a week makes then tougher then the pros? A lot of fighters spar 15 rounds in a day.
Yeah, consistently fighting your peers, i.e. guys on a similar level to you. You can't have one or two fights a year that you have a chance of losing, along with one or two gimme's. No avoiding a certain fighter because he has an awkward style or doesn't sell tickets. You're forced to fight the best.
Opponents in competition are out of your control You will meet so many different styles of fighters in a short space of time It's virtually impossible to always win like prospects do in the pros The standard of opposition in the pros when turning over is far below the standard the best ams will have been competitions with(many am stars say this makes the transition difficult)
John G didn't say 'they (the fighters) are tougher than the pros' he asked 'in what ways (is) the amateur(sport) tougher than the pro(sport)' at least that's how I understood it. In fact competition is far, far tighter in the ams, with regular high level competitions between the best in the sport. Imagine if pro-boxing had like a super 16 at every weight class each year, with entry obligatory if you wish to remain relevant. Tell ya what, it wouldn't be considered a niche sport anymore. Even the very best ams have at least a few losses on their records (with the exception of Lomachenko who's like 404-1 including the wsb) and losing is part of the game, as is having to face the best out there. With regards to the scoring, and the protective gear, there is definitely a move within the ams to move closer to the pro system. Though it's worth remembering that the punch scoring was introduced to reduce the opportunities for bias and corruption in judging - something that of course is also an issue in the pros. EDIT: In fact as mentioned a couple of posts above I think the MUST system has now been universally re-introduced. The APB starting this autumn is a bold experiment, which for better or worse could alter the face of both amateur and pro-boxing and I'll be very interested in seeing how it pans out.
