Thanks for the encouragement CC Bomp.

I know what you mean TM and I agree the amateurs is the best place to start. The real difference between pro and amateurs I think is most obvious in the smaller weight divisions though.

Look at the pro female bantamweights and a lot of them have KOs on the records - no such thing in the amateurs. Over three 2 min rounds, wearing headgear, scoring points for either anything or nothing depending on the judges, with refs who give eight counts very quickly - there's really not much of the fight element left - it's all point scoring. Even what scores and what doesn't seems to be different every bout here which makes it a bit of a head f**k to train for sometimes.

In the bigger amateur divisions you have people who can KO their opponents and having power is still an advantage. In the smaller divisions you're not given enough time and opportunity to use power as a strategy. The less bodyweight you have the more time/opportunity you need to win by KO in my opinion. TKOs sometimes happen but often the eight counts are awarded for a flurry of punches rather than effective ones. I doubt as many pro bouts would be stopped that way.