2008 US Olympic Boxing Team - 2 year anniversary where are they now?

Alright so the most unsuccessful US squad in the history of Olympic boxing (a single Bronze medal total)

Luis Yanez: 4-0-1 (0 KOs) 22 years old. Yanez was kicked off the US Olympic team after missing three weeks worth of training only to be reinstated when a suitable replacement was not found. He exited in the second round of the Olympics. As a pro Yanez has done little to impress long stretches of inactivity and a lack of power or volume make it appear that he's not gonna go anywhere. His last fight was a draw against a stepping stone of a fighter in Joseph Rios.

Rau'Shee Warren: no pro record 24 years old Warren was one of the few Americans that seemed a shoe-in to medal, his reactions and hand speed rivaled just about anyone in the sport. After getting on his bike to try to defend a lead that he didn't have he was crushed when the bell rang and his hand wasn't raised. He continues to try to hone his craft and looks like he will make an attempt to represent the USA in London for a third Olympic appearance.

Gary Russell Jr. 16-0 (10 KOs) 23 years old Russell was removed from contention in the Olympics as he collapsed in the dressing room prior to a weigh-in. As a pro Russell has made progress and has been active, but against less than stellar competition the jury is still out IMO.

Raynell Williams no pro record 22 years old Williams lost in the second round of the Olympics and never turned pro, the end.

Sadam Ali 13-0 (7 KOs) 22 years old Ali lost by a huge margin in the first round of the Olympics. Ali has been very popular on Friday Night Fights as he has an entertaining style, although in recent fights he has been caught heavy on more than one occasion. Will his chin hold up seems to be the ongoing question, but he's worth tuning in for every time.

Javier Molina 8-0 (4 KOs) 21 years old Molina was blasted out in the first round of the Olympics managing only a single point. As a pro it's hard to consider more than a single round he has lost, but his low power and coddling match making, make it hard to get excited over him, time will tell, but it's about time to step up the competition.

Demetrius Andrade 13-0 (9 KOs) 23 years old Andrade was one of the higher rated boxers going into the competition, and he made it to the 3rd round before narrowly losing. Andrade has shown some one-dimensional issues as a pro even with his strong skill set in that one dimension.

Shawn Estrada 12-0 (11 KOs) 26 years old Lost in the second round of the Olympics and was completely outclassed by James DeGale. As a pro, Estrada is another exciting one to watch and has built up a nice little following in Southern California. His heavy hands and strong resolve lean much more to a pro style than most of his Olympic Team. He's ready to start upping the competition level, we'll see how long it takes to happen though.

Deontay Wilder 17-0 (17 KOs) 25 years old Wilder had the lowest expectations of him of the entire Olympic boxing squad as he had very little experience, however he was the only delegate to Medal (Bronze) earning him the alias "The Bronze Bomber". As a pro Wilder is trying to learn the game and on the skill side he has much more to learn than his counterparts. He is very much a right hand dependent heavyweight. At 6'7" and the amount of power he has, there is definite potential, but he needs to start learning how to box effectively or he will never grab a belt.


Thoughts?

Andrade and Wilder really need to step up their level of competition or they'll be in for a rude awakening when they finally get a shot at someone decent. To be honest, I'm not very high on either of them but it's hard to tell all that much about guys who are fighting walking corpses.

I like Russell a lot. Very high on him. He's close to moving from prospect to contender. I like Wilder's power. But thats it. He's so green i though he was a fucking aliean. The rest I'm not big on. Yanez so far has been the bigest let down

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Originally Posted by Violent Demise

I like Russell a lot. Very high on him. He's close to moving from prospect to contender. I like Wilder's power. But thats it. He's so green i though he was a fucking aliean. The rest I'm not big on. Yanez so far has been the bigest let down

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I'm reserving judgement on Russell until his next step up.

I would have liked to have seen Rau'Shee turn pro, I think he's wasting good earning years chasing a dream he'll never get. He'll be 26 after the next Olypmics so there's still time for him, but we'll see.

I've only seen Ali fight and that was only twice but like you say, I find him to be very entertaining at least. I think he'll provide an atg fight at some point of his career.

My thoughts are your maths might need some work Killer ;D

Like VD, I'm very high on Russell Jr. He's kept himself very busy & I think his comp has been better than it gets credit for. He's fought some very tough journeymen with very different styles. Guys like De Leon, Pastrana, Viloria & Meza are all much better than their records suggest & I like the way his team seem to be trying to make him a really well-rounded fighter. My only concern would be whether he's a bit too small for FW. He doesn't seem like a guy who could grow through the weights. I suppose it says how high I rate him that I'm already thinking about his domination of multiple weights. I get ahead of myself like that.

My wonder with Warren is whether he'll turn over & already have too much mileage on him in the way that I think guys like Jerry Page & Andrew Maynard did. I hope not because he's an excellent fighter. I disagree that he's chasing a pipe dream. Not everyone wants to go pro & it may be that an Olympic medal is what he's aiming for in the way it was the ultimate goal of Leonard.

On the others, Ali looks good, but I think he'll fall away at the top tier when he gets there. Wilder's opp is horrible, but I get the feeling his team are just waiting for the Klits to get really old/retire & then step in. Andrade looks to probably have the most potential of the rest.

Yanez looks shit from what I've seen so far as a pro & he looks as if he has even less ambition as pro then he did as an amateur. Neither Molina or Estrada have really shown me that much to make me think they'll do much in the pro game. Estrada particularly seems to constantly have one ailment or another.

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Originally Posted by killersheep

Raynell Williams no pro record 22 years old Williams lost in the second round of the Olympics and never turned pro, the end.

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Forgot to mention this in my earlier post. It's not over for him. He's gone the Warren route and is training for the London Olympics. He should of gone pro. He's a talent

Does saying our amateur system blows constitute a thought?