Professional boxers in Olympics is a bad idea, say fighters

[p4pking]

Cuba has always been different because their best fighters often practically had to stay in the am's, it was their only good life and career choice.

Often? Try ALWAYS, and USSR very same and China very same (with subtle changes recently).

As for no one is getting hurt...basketball is a non-contact sport, try something a bit more physical...are amateurs allowed in/competitive in Olympic Hockey? Are people being hurt there? Are amateur boxers guaranteed to be safe without adding professionals in?



I think the main issue everyone is missing is that there would be more eyes on Olympic boxing if professionals were involved and when you're attempting to grow a sport this could help the product.....it would definitely help out the United States' boxing program, imagine it, amateurs getting to learn from professionals, professional trainers, professional sponsors....I fail to see the downside other than the "we don't want a 16 year old fighting his first fight against a 32 year old current title holder" which I'm sorry is a bogus claim, amateur boxing wouldn't allow that fight to take place.

I said often because some Cubans have defected in recent years, understand that stuff. Yes hockey is rough of course, but it's still not the sole object of the game to hurt the other players, and there are a far greater number of elite pros compared to boxing, as there is in any team sport. It's also a pretty limited number of countries that typically do well, if Russia was set to play Fiji I wouldn't be terribly interested in that either, but boxing is very international. I said I don't follow the amateurs so I'm pleading ignorance here, but how could they simply "not allow" fights to take place, if that's otherwise how the format would work? Doesn't that just cause more problems? Would they make an established pro exempt from having to qualify the way anyone else would, etc?