TalkingBoxing Articles
How About Some Respect? Can Strong Beijing Showing Cure our Amatuer Ills?
FRI November 9, ANDRES ANTONIO CARRIEDO - One thing that has definitely changed about boxing in the last decade or so is the lack of value placed on amateur pedigree in pushing promising prospects. The pure lack of priority placed on developing gifted young talent has become even more painfully apparent in the last two or three years.
Jermain Taylor was the last decorated US amateur to receive carte blanche support from promotional interests, network executives and influential boxing media members. Since then, 2004 Olympic medalists Andre Dirrell and Andre Ward have fought roughly a dozen times each in the three years since the Olympics and, especially in Dirrell’s case, been characterized as boring because of their unwillingness to take unnecessary punishment in easy fights.
The rest of the 2004 US team is mostly faring even worse. Ron Siler is in prison after a drug conviction, much like his fellow Cincinnatian predecessor, 2000 Olympic silver medalist Ricardo Williams Jr. Jason Estrada’s weight problems have kept him from reaching his full potential. Rock Allen and Devin Vargas, though still undefeated, have suffered from the same inactivity that Dirrell and Ward are suffering from; though Allen and Vargas have not even received televised action.
Vicente Escobedo’s career got off to a promising start, but after his April 2006 loss to Daniel Jimenez he has mostly toiled in the same obscurity as the rest of his teammates. Vanes Martirosyan, though still undefeated and occasionally on tv, is still only fighting eight rounders. Top Rank, Martirosyan’s promoter, usually knows what it is doing with its young fighter so that is not a knock on them, but it amplifies just how far the 2004 Olympic class has to go before it finally (if ever) reaches the spotlight past Olympic teams had given to them.
The best thing that can be said of Ward’s career is that he narrowly escaped Larry Merchant’s wrath when Merchant gave him a backhanded compliment after his untelevised KO win over Francisco Diaz in July. This means Ward probably will get the opportunity to fight on HBO again. His promoter Dan Goosen has talked about bigger and better things in 2008, but it has already been three years since he won the gold medal in Athens. In the 1990’s guys like Oscar De la Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Fernando Vargas and David Reid had already won significant world titles and were defending them by this point in the game. Ward is just not afforded the same opportunities past Olympians received.
This brings us to the man who is faring the best out of the 2004 Olympic class...2007 AIBA Flyweight World Champion Rau’shee Warren. When Warren’s amateur career is all said and done he may go down in the history books as the best and most accomplished US amateur boxer since Mark Breland. Warren appeared in the 2004 Olympics as a light flyweight and lost in the second round. Since then he has collected a bronze medal in the 2005 World Championships, two amateur national championships and the gold he won this past Saturday. He heads into the 2008 Olympics as the odds on favorite to win gold in the Flyweight division.
Luckily, Fox cleared some airtime to broadcast both Warren and Demetrius Andrade’s gold medal winning efforts on Sunday. So, I had a chance to see Warren in action and assess with my own eyes how much he’s improved since I last saw him fight in Athens. The diminutive, even by Flyweight standards, Warren looked sharp and even weathered the loss of two front teeth to earn a hard fought 13-9 decision win over 32 year old Thai boxer Somjit Jongjohor.
Warren’s grit, skill and experience won him the fight against his more experienced and aggressive opponent. Those qualities all figure to serve him well in Beijing. They should also make him a hot commodity among promotional companies. If he wins gold next summer and signs with the right promoter he could be the boxer to bring the sport back onto network television.
However, the troubling promotional trends that recent Olympians have experienced should temper the hopes of even the most optimistic of American boxing fans. Andre Ward had both the pedigree and hardware. He even has an engaging personality and does not get into trouble; yet, for whatever reason, his career has been plagued by fits of inactivity. While Warren and Andrade (who is also incredibly talented) both accomplished a great feat of which the entire US boxing community should be proud, who knows if World Championship gold and great amateur pedigree mean anything to promoters, network executives, corporate sponsors, media, etc.
I would like to believe that a strong showing in Beijing can cure these ills, but I am reticent to make any such declarations. From what I’ve seen and read, this team is more skilled in the sweet science and less so in blood and guts combat, though Warren proved that he was every bit as tough as any brawler out there with his gritty and skillful performance against Jongjohor. Current dogma is dominated by the theory that fans only appreciate endless blood and guts. Will a few gold medals change that? I hope so, but am not confident that they will.
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