2016 Summer Rio Olympics (Boxing Portion) Gives Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus a Run For Their Money!

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

We are about to enter the biggest circus in town – the Olympics. The pinnacle of every amateur boxer’s career this is the time that sacrifice, effort and hard work gets put to the ultimate test and we have the best out point the rest. Or do we?

This Olympics AIBA, the amateur boxing’s governing body, have made two massive decisions that could impact upon the future of the Olympics AND whether the amateur boxing scene the world over survives. This is truly all about turkeys thinking about Thanksgiving and deciding – let’s give it a go…

Firstly, off came the head guards for the men. Now I was very much in favor of this. I have little by way of evidence that the head guards do much to save the future faculties of the boxers who wear them and sometimes they can diminish the effectiveness of an opponent so it seems an easy sacrifice. It also gave the whole contest an unreal feel. It was like watching two guys try and knock each other out using cotton buds. Whilst I understand the safety of the boxers being paramount there are times when I think the safety element can hide the brute reality of what the sport is. It may be a perverse argument that making something more dangerous is a good thing in a sport where there is overwhelming evidence as to the harm and death that can be caused by it but there we go. The issue of course is that women shall continue to wear head guards – what happened to gender equality?

And hey of those women all 3 champions return to defend their titles won at London in 2012 – Claressa Shields of the United States, Britain’s Nicola Adams and Ireland’s Katie Taylor.

The second change was to adopt a more professional scoring system. Being able to identify whether people hit home and how effectively they connect are two different areas of this and I have no doubt there is a good reason for the change. The fact they are adopting a more professional system is, however sinister – why? Well…

The third recent decision made by AIBA is the allowing of professional boxers to enter the Olympics. I have made my feelings clear on this already but let me walk through this again as we are close to the Rio opening ceremony. The argument for allowing professionals into the Olympics is weak. Plain and simple this is about the glory of television more than celebrating the sport. Tennis and golf have professionals competing – why shouldn’t boxing?

To compare apples and oranges as fruits is as fruitful (sorry) as comparing tennis, golf and boxing. There is no amateur game in any of the sports mentioned that comes close to the organization and depth of the amateur game in boxing. Worldwide amateur boxing is the lynchpin, the bread and butter and the reason for the health of the professional game. Without it we could see the training and the preparation for longevity in the professional game gone.

It perhaps began with the creation of the World Series of Boxing where the idea of professional fighters and amateurs boxing together began. This is a fascinating contest with teams from countries that have very good amateur pedigrees facing each other in a round robin style that led to a final this year between Cuba and Great Britain. Team GB with world titles in double figures within the professional ranks were demolished by the Cubans. Apart from Guillermo Rigondeaux – can you name a current Cuban world champ?

The difference between the amateur game and the professional one is massive. It is not the same in tennis and I have yet to hear of being killed by playing golf – I have heard of being bored to death by it but that’s just personal prejudice.

Was the amount of press and publicity that Andy Murray got for winning the Olympics at London in 2012 massive? Did it bring to the attention of the public his unbelievable prowess on the tennis courts? Or was that his first Grand Slam at the US Open? Or his win at Wimbledon? Or being the lynchpin of the Davis Cup winning squad? Or his getting to quarter, semi and finals of major tennis events?

You see the Olympics needed Andy Murray far more than any professional needed the Olympics. The press it got was mixed. There were some who thought it great but many who thought why is he at the Olympics? I thought that was for amateurs? And why is tennis at the Olympics anyway? It’s not like they need the publicity…

Boxing is different. It has almost always been there and gave amateurs the opportunity to have a pinnacle in their careers. Due to the ideals that underpin the Olympics it is much better to have an Olympic Gold than a World Championship Gold. Boxers are heralded for Olympic prowess rather than amateur world glory. It simply means something.

Devaluing it by allowing boxers who have had the opportunity but missed it is wrong. We shall see amateur set ups dwindle as there is no point in working hard to see a multi-millionaire come in and steal your golden opportunity. The Olympics don’t need the publicity. The boxing world do not need another contest to sort out the WBA/WBC/IBF/WBO mixture of world honors.

The whole project has also failed for Rio. There are only 3 professional fighters going – Italy’s Carmine Tommasone, Cameroon’s ex-WBO interim middleweight champion Hassan N’Dam N’jikam and Thailand’s 36-year-old former IBF flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng. Can you remember the fights in which they got their belts? Me neither…

And so I do think that it was all about 2020 and the next Olympics. Having got over the hurdle of getting people to accept the premise now makes it easier for people to prepare 4 years hence. By then the public objections of the IBF and the WBC can be countered as this year they got flushed out. Next time they shall get sweeteners no doubt – it can be argued that has been the worldwide sporting ideal of late…

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