What’s happened to the amateurs?
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@Oklahoman.com
I feel cheated. The Boneman was born at the wrong time. I love boxing. I watch just about every last show there is from ESPN2, HBO and Showtime. I’ve even watched shows on Telefutura where I spend half the time trying to translate the action.
But I can’t bring myself to watch a lick of Olympic boxing. I tried. Even the familiar faces of Bob Papa and Teddy Atlas is not enough for me to care.
Now this isn’t because I don’t watch the Olympics. Quite the opposite. In between working on stories and stuff like that, I’ve watched more than 10 hours per day since the thing has started. That swimming 4X100 free relay last night with USA taking France at the last second was one of the coolest things I’ve seen this year. I’ll be glued to the tube for basketball, gymnastics, swimming, track and field and volleyball. So why can’t I work up the courage to watch boxing?
It’s not as simple to say cable has killed Olympic boxing, but it is part of the problem. In 1976 with Sugar Ray Leonard at Montreal, it was the only game in town. You got to know about him. Same thing with the magical class of 1984. Could you imagine nine gold medalists this year? And to think, Evander Holyfield wasn’t even one of them. That ‘84 class has given me three of my favorite boxers: Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker and Holyfield.
The last boxer to capture the nation was Oscar de La Hoya in 1992. Even when David Reid won the gold in Atlanta, the hype was dying down. And by 2000, it was all but gone.
HBO took a gamble on the 2000 Olympians. I remember their pro debuts were all on the defunct KO Nation. Off the top of my head, I remember Dante Craig, Ricardo Williams, Michael Bennett, Clarence Vinson (who I was so sure would be a star), Jose Navarro and of course, the only real star, Jermain Taylor.
After being burned bad by this group, no network took a gamble on the class of 2004. And in 2008, well, the US only has eight boxers. And one solid medal hopeful, Gary Russell, pulled out because of weight issues.
There are other options besides watching the Olympics. Plus, boxing is buried into the mid-afternoon hours on CNBC. It’s not primetime, it’s not on network TV, pitiful slot. But it doesn’t really deserve a top-notch spot, so no complaints from me.
But the biggest and most dopiest thing ever is the scoring system. They’ve got these white part of the gloves where that’s where they want the boxers to connect with. Problem is the three blind mice that run things in the pro ranks look competent compared to the idiots in the amateur ranks.
Explain this one: you could potentially score a knockdown and not get credited with a point. Huh? Three of five judges need to punch their keypad within one second for a punch to count. Huh? It’s an embarrassment. And it’s one of the reasons why so many boxers bypass the shot at Olympic glory and go straight to the pro ranks.
In my first conversation with Sean O’Grady, I asked him about the downfall of boxing. One of his reasons was it’s based partly on the Olympics. Through the Games, viewers get a reason to care about the fighters. They know about them before they go pro. Nowadays, eh, not the case.
It’s sad to see what amateur boxing has become. I admit that when the medal round comes around, I’ll still be watching. But I’m sick and have a problem. So, what can be done to save amateur boxing?
UFC alert: Argh, I go 2-1 with my predictions. I still think Roger Huerta’s got the goods to be something special, though. Kenny Florian UD Huerta. Brock Lesnar UD Heath Herring. And Georges St.-Pierre UD Fitch. Didn’t get to see it, so can’t really comment on it yet.
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