But then things changed. Boxing's popularity in general began to dwindle and there were fewer exciting boxers to watch in the games, especially boxers from the USA (more on both of these things in a later blog post). There were undoubtedly still talented men (and now women!) competing but not at the same level and it's left me with the sad conclusion that, as much as I hate to say it, Olympic Boxing is just not all that great. Why?
Format
Fights in the Olympics consist of three, 3-minute rounds. That is not a lot of time, which means several things. We see far fewer finishes by knockout or TKO, almost none outside of the super heavyweight, heavyweight and light heavyweight weight classes and even then, they are pretty infrequent.
We see fewer power punches in general because the scoring system does not differentiate between power punches and non-power punches. If it lands, it counts the same so there is less incentive to even bother, especially if you don't already have disruptive power, which most of these boxers don't. Why risk putting yourself out there and taking a chance when there is less reward for it?
Fewer body punches are thrown too because they are harder to score (the head snapping back is more obvious to all judges) and you don't have the time to try and wear your opponent down with body shots or try to open up the head by attacking the body first.
In fact, if you don't come out and win Round 1, it is very, very hard to win the match in general. You would obviously have to win Rounds 2 and 3 clearly and that changes the complexion and strategy of the fight.
Rounds are scored now with the “10-point must” system they use in pro-boxing but I don't believe judges can score a round a draw unless there is a point deduction. They must give the fighter they perceived to win 10 points and the other fighter gets 7-9 points, depending on something extreme, like a legitimate knockdown (which are rare). So it's not uncommon at all to have 3 toss-up kind of rounds, making it harder to perceive a winner.
Speaking of deductions, deductions matter a LOT in Olympic Boxing because again, there are only 3 rounds. So if I get a point taken away, I could potentially lose a fight where I won 2 of the 3 rounds on several judges scorecards.
In short, 3 rounds is just not enough to make an exciting boxing match without really, really exciting boxers. This brings me to the next issue.
Tournament Style
16 boxers participate in each weight class so if you get to the gold medal match, that means you would fight 4 times in less than a couple of weeks. There is even a preliminary round for people not seeded in the Top 16 so you could even fight 5x if things went your way. This is one reason why they do the aforementioned, 3-round fights. It would be a lot tougher to take more rounds of punishment and fight multiple times between the opening and closing ceremonies.
This further leads to a lack of power and exciting fights as there is an incentive for just doing the bare minimum to get by to the next round. Most of the fighters treat them as sparring matches and because there is less time to gameplan for specific opponents, you are not going to see a lot of strategy play out.
There Are No 2nd Chances
Let's say you train like crazy for no money, have to depend on sponsorships of which there aren't many in the US, win of all the qualifying tournaments to make the Olympic team of which there ARE many, and then just narrowly lose a judges' decision in your first fight against someone you knew very little about and couldn't really prepare for. That's it. You have to wait 4 years before you can get back to the Olympics and achieve your dream of winning a gold medal. That's rough. On it's own, it doesn't necessarily lead to a less exciting fight - in fact you could argue that it could make it more exciting since it's do or die - but it causes another issue in that it can deter talented boxers from even trying to make the team, which leads me to the next point.
America Don't Care
Since Andre Ward won gold in 2004, many of America's best and brightest fighters have not competed in the Olympics. Especially when you consider how many fighters come from poverty, it is a tall order to put so much effort into something that may not pay off at all when you could start making some money right away as a pro. It is a true that a great Olympic career can be parlayed into much more money when you as pro - Sugar Ray Leonard was the biggest example of this - but it's a longshot for sure, especially these days. We're kind of stuck in one of those never-ending cycles. There is less excitement about Olympic boxing in America because we are less competitive and we are less competitive in it because there is less excitement (and sponsorship money).
What about the other countries? It depends a lot on the specific countries. Cuba has been an Olympic powerhouse because their fighters cannot turn pro and the state invests a lot of money in their amateur boxing program. A lot of the former Soviet Union countries like Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have a lot of national pride in their boxing and while those fighters can turn pro, it is harder for them to make any significant money early on. Some of them even turn pro and then still fight in the Olympics, like Bakhodir Jalov fighting again in Paris 2024 after also winning the gold in 2020. This is another reason a young American boxing prospect may not want to try for the Olympics. Who wants to go up against a scary, 30-year old heavyweight who has competed in 2 Olympic games before and at the pro level? While it would make for a great movie, it is not a smart way to manage anyone's boxing career.
Many Americans, and I would guess most people in general, want to watch a sport that our country is good at and we also want to watch an exciting sport and very rarely does Olympic boxing fall into that category, leading me to my final point.
Styles Make Fighters
Because of the format I mentioned earlier and probably because of the success of countries other than the US, Cuba and Great Britain, a modified international style of boxing has developed. It is a style made for winning the Olympics and other international competitions. It doesn't need to be exciting, it doesn't need to knock anybody out (or even down), it doesn't need to put fans in the seats, it doesn't need to win anyone over except for a judges scorecard based almost entirely on points. All of this factors into every aspect of one's boxing, even their stance where you see far more southpaw fighting in international amateur competitions than in the pros. It does not make for a better product in my opinion, and seemingly in the opinion of the American audience as a whole because interest in the sport seems to dwindle every 4 years. With the Paris 2024 games going on right now, it is nice to see that boxing is more televised than it was in Tokyo, and more weight classes have been added to the men's division, but of the 20 or so fights I've seen so far, only a couple have stood out. As we get into the gold medal match, hopefully that ratio will improve a little.
Don't get me wrong though, fighting for one's country in the Olympics is a noble pursuit and anybody who does it is heroic in my book. Nothing can take away from their hard work, dedication and the many sacrifices they have made to get to this place. True for all of these Olympic athletes, even the race walkers. I wish boxing was more fun to watch and there were more American fighters that we could all get behind and cheer for. Sadly, I don't think that is the way the wind is blowing and there is a very real chance that boxing may not be in the 2028 games in Los Angeles. Hopefully, the IOC can find a new, suitable international governing body by then and if they need any help or ideas to make things better, they know where to find me.
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