Die Box-Welt hat heute heftig auf die Nachricht reagiert dass Profiboxer an den Olympischen Spielen 2016 in Rio teilnehmen dürfen (Boxen1 berichtete), ein Event welches bisher ausschließlich Amateurboxern vorbehalten war.
Die Reaktionen auf die heutigen Nachrichten, zum größten Teil über Social Media, waren überwiegend negativ. Die Kommentare reichten von „gefährlich“, „lächerlich“ bis „sinnlos“.
Hier einige Tweets:
Pro boxers in the olympics. What are AIBA thinking. Goodbye amateur boxing now as far as I'm concerned. Can't say I'm a fan of this.
— Ricky Hatton MBE (@HitmanHatton) June 1, 2016
Pro boxers no eligible to box at the Rio olympics is Absolutely ridiculous. There is no point in amateur boxing from now on.
— Josh Taylor (@JoshTaylorBoxer) June 1, 2016
Gutted to hear about it being confirmed pro's can box in the Olympics. Absolutely ruins amateur boxing that in my opinion. Wrong ??
— Stephen Smith (@SwiftySmith) June 1, 2016
Statement von Mike Tyson:
Hier weitere Stimmen im Original:
Lennox Lewis: „Olympic boxing is built for amateurs and is the highest achievement you can get, alongside being world amateur champion. All of a sudden you could have a scenario where someone like former world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, who won Olympic gold in Atlanta and has so much experience, could go up against a kid of 18 who has had just 10 fights.“
Julio Cesar Chavez Sr.:: „Professional versus amateur boxers is a real crime. It is attacking the very roots of boxing. It endangers the lives and careers of young talented (amateur) boxers.“
Larry Holmes: „Amateurs should not fight professionals. It won’t be a fair fight. I would not do it. Removing the headgear from amateurs is a huge mistake. The idea is to make boxing safer, not to let them get hurt due to commercial interests.“
Carl Frampton: „Pro boxers being allowed to fight in Olympics is ridiculous. They’re two different sports. It’s like a badminton player playing tennis. AIBA have got worse since I was an amateur and that’s hard to believe. What about the amateurs who’ve been dreaming of the Olympics for years, have yet to Qualify & some pro takes their spot at the last minute?“
David Haye: „All it’s going to take is one 17-year-old kid from Sweden fighting an American 30-year old current world champion, puts the poor kid into a coma and then everyone will ask: ‚Why did you allow that to happen?‘ Obviously, it is a contact sport so why would you allow that 17-year-old boy to fight this 30-year-old man who has already won the Olympics 10 years ago? What’s the point?“
Badou Jack: „I fought in the Olympics eight years ago. You cannot allow fights between professionals or world champions and young amateur fighters. That would be a big risk.“
Erik Morales: „As an amateur you are in a learning stage. At the end of the day, amateur fighters are not familiar on what professional boxing is. That would be a great disadvantage to happen in the Olympics. They don’t have the skills, the training (or) experience. I don’t understand this. Professionals have a lot of advantages over amateurs.“
Some promoters also weighed in.
Lou DiBella: „AIBA is a disgrace.“
Regulators and sanctioning bodies are not happy about it either.
„The bottom line is that professionals will compete against amateur fighters. Amateur/professional participation would create a competitive environment detrimental to the sport and dangerous for the participants, particularly young amateurs learning their craft,“ said John Carvelli, chairman of the California State Athletic Commission. „It is our collective responsibility to protect the health and safety of amateur athletes, while we protect and promote the honorable tradition of Olympic boxing.“
The WBC has been against the inclusion of professionals in the Olympics for quite some time, as well as AIBA’s creation of the quasi-pro World Series of Boxing, which is seen by most as AIBA’s way of controlling the fighters as amateurs and then as professionals.
To show how serious the WBC is taking the prospect of pros in the Olympics the organization recently announced that if any fighter ranked in its top 15 in any weight division decides to participate in the Olympics they will be banned from the WBC rankings for two years. That would seem to be a strong deterrent.
Now imagine that. The WBC and I actually agree on something for a change. What a rarity. If that can happen it should illustrate professionals fighting amateurs in the Olympics truly is a bad idea.
und zum Schluss noch die ABC:
ABC, Association of Boxing Commissions:
Als Präsident des Verbandes der Boxing Kommissionen sind der Verwaltungsrat und ich sehr enttäuscht über die Entscheidung Profiboxer an den Olympischen Spielen teilnehmen zu lassen. Die ABC ist sehr besorgt um die Sicherheit der Athleten. Amateurboxer mit Profis konkurrieren zu lassen birgt hohe Risiken hier geht es buchstäblich um Leben und Tod.
„Ich hoffe dass sowohl das IOC als auch die AIBA ihre Haltung überdenken“ so Mike Mazzulli President.
