Rio Olympics (Boxing Recap So Far)

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

And so the end is near… AIBA face a final curtain…

Rio is almost done. And so now in the UK we are looking out for the new stars of our new future – the Olympics promised us such but it seems we may be disappointed. From whither shall they come? For many of us it is a tale of, to whence did they go?

I thought before the Games we might be in with a shout of some very decent medals from the likes of Galal Yafai and Anthony Fowler or who could miss with our Muhammad Ali? The Olympics are the epitome, the top of your amateur boxing career – who would want to fail, who could fail to shine? The answers is of course we could as one by one they started to fall by the wayside. And before people get all dewy eyed and cry foul because there have been some issues about the judging – our guys lost fair and they lost square. It got me wondering – what have they missed by not medaling in the Olympics? So, I have had a quick look at what happened to the giants of London 2012. In there do we spot any clues as to what could have been there next for the Olympians of Rio 2016?

Now let’s be equal and start with the ladies. We had 3 at London. Nicola Adams kept home the very first Olympic Gold medal for a woman and this year is out in Rio defending it. But Adams was not the first British woman to fight at an Olympics. That was Natasha Jonas. Jonas got through a first round fight against Queenue Underwood before losing a brutal encounter with eventual gold medal winner the legendary Katie Taylor of Ireland. This time round motherhood has prevented Jonas competing but she is still very much active in training boxers and training herself in Liverpool – Tokyo 2020?

Nicola Adams, now the World Champion as well as Olympic and Commonwealth Champion is joined in Rio by Savannah Marshall, the middleweight. Savannah was expected to come close to a medal as she is a top 5 fighter but has just also lost in the quarter finals so no medal shall be hers.

Nicola Adams is guaranteed a medal – she just now has to fight over which color.

Of the men, the youngest in the team was Josh Taylor 6-0, 6 KO’s. He was out the Games in the 1st round – ironically to a Brazilian. In 2014 he became the Commonwealth Games Champion and when Leo Santa Cruz lost to Carl Frampton, Taylor was winning his 6th professional fight in a row on the undercard. He has won every fight by stoppage or knockout and having turned pro in 2015, this could be the kid who sweeps up.

Fred Evans won a silver medal and then disappeared. It’s a trick he seems well versed in. They didn’t allow him to compete in the Commonwealth in 2014 because of trouble with the law. He didn’t turn professional for some time, then did, then… disappeared and has yet to don pro gloves…

Thomas Stalker 11-1-3, 2 KO’s, captained the team and lost in the quarter final – a fight he was expected to win. He has struggled a little in the professionals but has got his career back on track with a decent win to take the WBO European lightweight title, which he shall defend in October in Cardiff.

Andrew Selby 5-0, 3 KO’s only turned pro a year ago. He is a tremendous prospect and is currently British flyweight champion. This year has been very productive and Selby, after only a handful of fights looks like he is a tremendous prospect.

Anthony Ogogo 11-0, 7 KO’s won a bronze after beating the top guy in his division at London. He had been tending to his sick mother throughout and when he turned pro he found life tough again. This was due to his shoulder needing surgery but a trip down the sparkly stairs in Strictly Come Dancing (Dancing with the Stars) raised his low mood and, undefeated in 11 he is back in the ring with 3 wins in 2016 – 1 in England, 1 in Scotland and 1 in Germany!

Luke Campbell 14 -1, 11 KO’s, has got himself into the mx in terms of world honours professionally and whilst, a Gold medal winner, should expect no easy time of it, his father’s illness and passing marked him. In 2015 he lost his first pro fight but has carefully got himself back into the world title mix, winning the WBC silver and Commonwealth lightweight titles. The beginning of 2017 will be crucial for him.

There is no doubt about who is the most successful. As we hope that Super Heavyweight Joe Joyce in Rio will defend his title, Anthony Joshua 17 – 0, 17 KO’s, is sitting with the IBF belt, a secure future and the possibility of becoming an undisputed heavyweight king for years to come.

There have been many Olympic champions who have gone on to massive things in the professional world but it is not an easy transition. The professional game is almost a different sport but the training these boxers received before London have put them in the right frame of mind and the best those who have gone before? This week shall tell us who is most likely to achieve after the Olympics because coming back from adversity is as much a teacher as winning medals. I still think there are some very decent boxers in there but, as Thomas Stalker and Anthony Ogogo show it is a hard game outside the amateurs. We also have, though the tale of Anthony Joshua. But for every Joshua there is an Audley Harrison…

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