We sure didn’t need the 2012 London Games to tell us that men’s USA Boxing is in trouble.
Amateur pugilism in America has been going downhill since 1992, when Oscar De La Hoya was the lone gold medalist at the Barcelona Games. Since then, the USA men have produced two Olympic gold medalists (which merits congratulations to USA’s first female gold medalist, 2012 Olympian Claressa Shields).
That’s more than a bit embarrassing for the Stars and Stripes — a one-time Olympic powerhouse that has produced, among others, Cassius Clay, George Foreman, Joe Frazier and Sugar Ray Leonard.
But the lack of success for USA Boxing has as much to do with the state of the game itself as the sudden dearth of American talent.
Horrible
In a word, amateur boxing is horrid. It makes the unorganized cesspool of pro boxing look like a well-oiled machine.
The head of amateur boxing’s sanctioning body, the AIBA, said this week that change is on the way and should be in place by the Rio Olympics in 2016. Good.
The most obvious problem with amateur boxing is the computerized scoring system. A set of judges push a button every time they see a “clean” punch. When they all agree, that punch is called a scoring punch.
Nice concept, but it doesn’t work. Even Roy Jones Jr. — the guy who got screwed in 1988 and ultimately inspired the computerized system — would agree.
True, having real judges at ringside using a 10-point must system is hardly a remedy for eliminating Advertisement controversy. Look no further than June 9 when three blind mice at ringside gave Timothy Bradley a laughable decision over Manny Pacquiao.
That said, computerized scoring is non-sensical.
A fighter can connect on an eight-punch combination and come away with zero points. Or, as we saw in London, a fighter can get knocked down a zillion times and still get the win.
Again, the judges in pro boxing can be just as pathetic. But at least with real people taking responsibility for their actions, there is some accountability. No one can blame a democratic computer system.
Body shots
Perhaps the most maddening byproduct of the computerized scoring is the lack of credit for body shots. The body shot is as crucial to boxing as the forward pass in football. It’s a primary tenet that often dictates how a fight is won or lost. And while a three-round fight is often too short to allow body shots to show their true effect, a fighter should still be rewarded for landing them.
Many critics have pointed out that computerized scoring has turned amateur boxing into fencing. Not counting body shots has turned it into dancing. If the point was to make it nonviolent, the designers have succeeded. It’s downright sleep-inducing.
The AIBA head said the 10-point must system is on the horizon. That’s a great start.
There’s also a chance headgear will be gone as well, which may sound minimal, but is huge. Back when Clay, Foreman, Frazier and Leonard were competing for Team USA, the public saw their faces, and readily identified with them.
As it is now, the headgear is so all-emcompassing that it’s hard to determine which fighter is which. They may as well be wearing Darth Vader masks. In this age of Olympics, when stories and images sell, it’s more important than ever for the public to see every grimace and snarl.
Whatever, the future of amateur boxing depends on the AIBA implementing change. Otherwise, Rio may be the swan song.
