US Olympic Boxing: Taking a Beating

admin · Aug 16, 2008

Muhammad Ali. Joe Frazier. George Foreman. Besides being three of the greatest fighters of all time, what do they have in common? During the '60s, they each won an Olympic gold medal. The U.S. boxing team was once a source of intense pride. Later on, future pro champs like Sugar Ray Leonard ('76), Ray Mercer ('88) and Oscar de la Hoya ('92) cut their teeth on the Olympic stage while mashing the molars of their opponents. Lately? In the past two Olympics, the U.S. has produced a single gold.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1833105,00.html

Mitchell Kane · Aug 16, 2008

Interesting.

Russell's parents blamed USA Boxing, telling the Washington Post that its training program required too much weight-lifting, which put excess pounds on their son, pounds he had to scramble to lose.
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"To the Europeans, it means something," says Teddy Atlas, the respected coach who's calling Olympic boxing for NBC. "Some of these guys are getting $250,000 for a gold medal. In America, it's a feeder system for the pros."
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Mitchell Kane · Aug 18, 2008

It seems like just about every American newspaper or magazine writer quotes Teddy Atlas.

August 18, 2008
U.S. Boxing Team’s Failure Highlights a Fight Within
By BEN SHPIGEL
BEIJING — Before boxing in what he called the most important bout of his life, the American light flyweight Luis Yanez received conflicting advice. His Olympic coaches were telling him to attack from the opening bell. At the same time, his hometown coaches were reminding him to stay patient.

The resulting confusion led to a loss in the ring that further devastated the team’s medal hopes and brought into focus a disconnect that is threatening to undermine USA Boxing’s attempt to reclaim its glory years. Its nine-man squad, which had been considered the best since 1996, now stands at one, and the United States is guaranteed its worst Olympic showing regardless of how the remaining boxer, the heavyweight Deontay Wilder, fares.

At the heart of the disconnect is the crown jewel of USA Boxing’s rebuilding effort, a residency training program that was reinstated after a 24-year absence. It is a program that required national team members, selected at last August’s Olympic trials, to spend 10 months living and training full-time at the United States Olympic Committee’s training center in Colorado Springs.

Though some laud the array of services, which include full-time coaches, financial support, on-site psychologists and nutritionists, those in and out of the program have criticized the effectiveness of taking 18- to 23-year-old boxers from their families and personal coaches and putting them in unfamiliar environs.

The architects of the program, the coach Dan Campbell and the chief executive Jim Millman, admit to being confounded by the shoddy outcome here, where eight boxers failed to reach the medal round and appeared as if they had tuned out the coaching staff.

“It’s hard to say what went wrong at this Olympics,” Campbell said Sunday night. “We thought we had a chance for several guys to make it to this round, but some of them fell to things beyond our control.”

One boxer, Gary Russell Jr., passed out from heat exhaustion and dehydration while trying to make weight a few hours before a mandatory weigh-in. Another, Rau’shee Warren, the reigning flyweight world champion, failed to realize he was losing his opening bout and did not start throwing punches until the closing seconds. The welterweight Demetrius Andrade, who was so disgusted with the judges’ scoring of his 11-9 loss Sunday that he left the ring before the referee could raise the arm of winner, Kim Jung-joo of South Korea, was one of a few who blamed lopsided officiating on early exits.

“It’s just been hard,” said Wilder, who, less than 30 minutes after seeing Andrade break down in tears, beat Mohammed Arjaoui in a bout that was tied 10-10 and decided by a 23-22 score from the judges. “It’s been hard for all of us. People don’t know how hard we’ve been training this year. They only see what we’ve done out here.”

USA Boxing officials knew a return to international prominence would take time, though no one expected this year’s results would be so abysmal. It was one disaster after another, and nowhere was the tension more apparent than Saturday night, when Yanez fought.

His relationship with Campbell reached the flashpoint two months ago when he was kicked off the team for missing three weeks of training camp without permission. Although he was eventually reinstated — after making a public apology, paying a fine and accepting counseling — both sides exchanged vicious words in print, and Campbell told The Associated Press that Yanez was “one of the biggest liars I’ve ever met.”

Under that backdrop, Yanez spoke earlier Saturday to Dennis Rodarte, his coach and the man Yanez credits with turning him from a grade-school troublemaker into a two-time national champion. He left that conversation confident that Rodarte’s recommendation of remaining cautious while using his jab to set up combinations was the right one. Afterward, Campbell said Yanez “did the opposite of what we asked him to do.”

“You have the kid caught in between — his allegiance to his personal coach, we all understand that,” Campbell, speaking generally, said Sunday night. “It becomes, ‘Can they trust me enough to not listen to what somebody else is telling who has never been to an international bout and boxed the way we’ve been training them to box?’ Nine times out of 10, they’re going to revert to the person they’ve been with the most, and that’s the personal coach.”

These tug-of-wars have occurred throughout the Games. Every time Andrade would retreat to the corner after a round Sunday, he would listen to Campbell but also scan the crowd for his father, Paul, who serves as one of his two coaches. As Warren competed Tuesday, his longtime coach Mike Stafford, whom he has known for 15 years since he was 6, watched from the stands at the Workers’ Gymnasium.

“I feel like my mistakes that I’m doing in the ring, he’d be there to correct me,” Warren said of Stafford in a recent interview. “When I’m slipping like I’m on ice, he’d be there to hold me, make sure I wouldn’t fall. Anything I’d do wrong, he’d be there to make right.”

Stafford, a member of the 2004 coaching staff, said: “That’s the story of the whole Olympics. You have to put the right coaches in the right situation to work with the right boxers. It’s hard, but that’s the bottom line at this level.”

To those critics who question his credentials, Campbell, a former probation officer, points to his experience coaching in world championships, junior world championships and Pan-American Games.

He felt it important to gather the team in a central location to foster camaraderie while inculcating the fast-paced international style, which values speed and the ability to score points quickly, to men who have been almost exclusively taught the more rugged professional techniques. He did not want the individual coaches interfering with his instruction — even though at least one coach, Gary Russell Sr., who has been outspoken in his disapproval of Campbell, held secret training sessions with his son in Colorado Springs hotel rooms.

Campbell said he did not think it was a coincidence that the only boxer left, Wilder, is coached by Jay Deas, who he said has not meddled with the training from afar.

“I purposely have tried to be supportive of the program even if what they do is different than what I might have done,” Deas said recently.

The concept of a residency program is hardly limited to the United States. Coaches and officials from Russia, Italy and France say their countries, to varying degrees, mandate their boxers to convene for training and competitions before major international meets.

In the United States, other sports’ governing bodies have worked out this delicate balance with great success. The women’s gymnastic team, for instance, is generally considered the paragon. Athletes train predominantly with their coaches and, depending on the phase in their competition cycles, spend four to seven days once every month or two at the women’s national training center in New Waverly, Tex. They learn new elements under the eye of Martha Karolyi, the women’s national team coordinator, before returning home to have those lessons reinforced.

“There’s no conflict of interest,” Steve Penny, the president of USA Gymnastics, said in an interview. “All of the coaches know that their No. 1 priority is the team: team success, team performance. We’ve gotten people thinking along those lines.”

Ideally, that is what USA Boxing hopes to instill as it tries to reverse its decline, which could not come at a worse time, as nations like Thailand, Kazakhstan, Italy and China are joining traditional powers Russia and Cuba among the elite. As recently as 1996, half of the United States’ 12 boxers won medals. Its medal count has decreased by two in every Olympics since then — from six to four to two — with only two golds, fewer than Kazakhstan (four) and Thailand (three), over that span.

Potential solutions abound, and they give Millman hope as he looks forward to the 2012 Games in London. On a fundamental level, Millman said he could envision diminishing the length of the program — five of the boxers have children — and integrating the hometown coaches more.

“If we can do a better job on the communication end and get more buy-in from the coach, then he’ll become an advocate for everything we’re trying to do,” Millman said.

Campbell wondered aloud whether it would be beneficial to bring in the next wave, perhaps those who compete on the Junior Olympic level, for additional camps in Colorado Springs. The trainer Teddy Atlas, who is an analyst for NBC, said that part of the problem — which can be fixed, he added — was that USA Boxing had an identity crisis.

“Are we trying to develop an Olympic program that can be competitive on a world stage or is this a breeding ground for the pros?” Atlas said. “What’s our priority? Be honest. If you want to upgrade your Olympic program, then you have to start holding more camps, setting up seminars, anything that you can do to start as early as you can.”

Atlas discussed these issues 10 days ago, before the competition began, before the three first-round losses, before only one boxer reached the medal round, before Yanez ignored Campbell’s message. His words are haunting.

“These kids, quite honestly, seemed like they just wanted to get to the Olympics, do as well as they could do, and then move on to their pro careers,” Atlas said. “That’s a pretty fair statement. The only way to make a difference is to do something for the next group. For these kids, the die has been cast.”
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KaukipRrr · Aug 18, 2008

Waaaaah,..waaaaaaaaaaaah, more of this horseshit,.. it's just like that all familiar whyning of "where are all da merican heavywaits" ...get over it, and watch the sport for good fighters and good fights, it seems to be primitive human nature to segregate and condescend, like wiping out different tribes into extinction for example. It's clearly evident that too many people's brains are caught up by race or nationality, - fuck patriotism.

Ugotabe Kidding · Aug 18, 2008

I'd like to know which country is it that pays 250 grand to a winner? Atlas didn't tell that.

I don't think Finland pays even 20 000 for any olympic champion and I can't think of a country that can afford that much. It is bullshit.

bpg · Aug 18, 2008

Atlas sprouting bullshit at per usual it seems.

And even if his not, for some countries boxing is their ONLY chance of a gold.

I wonder how much money is pumped into the USA team as a whole.

Whatever it is it would drawf one gold medallist receiving 250k.

Arben · Aug 18, 2008

How is Atlas spewing bullshit? These kids are all thinking about the pros, not the olympics. He made very good points.

Ugotabe Kidding · Aug 18, 2008

Arben said: ↑

How is Atlas spewing bullshit? These kids are all thinking about the pros, not the olympics. He made very good points.
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That is true. Many countries see amateur boxing and the olympics as the main goal in their careers while for US it is a practicing ground for pros. They are two different sports these days and that shows.

However, nobody is getting 250k for Olympic gold. No way

Double L · Aug 18, 2008

Promoters paid off the judges so they wouldn't have to sign any million dollar contracts. :crying:

Arben · Aug 18, 2008

Ugotabe Kidding said: ↑

That is true. Many countries see amateur boxing and the olympics as the main goal in their careers while for US it is a practicing ground for pros. They are two different sports these days and that shows.

However, nobody is getting 250k for Olympic gold. No way
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It's not even a practicing ground for the pros. It's just a way for them to get a bigger signing bonus.

Jason Estrada's 2004 olympic display and comments afterwards says it all.

mikE · Aug 18, 2008

At the 2004 (2000?) olympics, I remember them saying that the Thai boxers get a huge bonus for a gold. $250,00 actually sounds about right from what I remember. That's about as close to Europe as Hawaii, but it may be what Teddy is thinking of, if I'm right.

I have liked what I've heard from Campbell on more than one issue and maybe he isn't as bad as it sometimes seems. I still think he should have been screaming at Rau'shee (screaming!), but there is two sides to this stuff (Yanez), and I'm wavering a bit.

I've staunchly argued that am boxers should stay with their original coaches, but that call probably wasn't Campbell's to make, only to enforce. And it's not like having a centralized team can't work..ahem Cuba.

Edit: and it's not like Americans don't get a huge bonus for Gold. Not sure what Ward got, but David Reid got a cool $1M signing bonus.

NeighborMike · Aug 18, 2008

olympic boxing is never going to be good again unless an incredible athlete just so happins to decide to box amatuers

everyone is focused on going pro
and like atlas said a while ago we just have no experiance...back in the day guys turned pro after like 200 amatuers fights..

now they go pro after 50
i mean look at guys like kesley banks...granted he was burn out but he had over 900 amatuer fights before he went pro

Arben · Aug 18, 2008

He got a bad rep coming into the games, but I'll give the guy credit for actually fighting for his guys and being honest with his opinions.

Mitchell Kane · Jan 7, 2009

Boston Herald:

U.S. boxing changes on heels of Beijing shortcomings

By Brian Gomez / The Gazette | Tuesday, January 6, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Boxing
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. â€” Javier Molina complained about being away from his friends and family. Gary Russell Jr. griped about not training with his personal coach. Luis Yanez caused a fuss over his contentious stay in Colorado Springs.

The reinvented boxing resident program sputtered at the Olympic Training Center under beleaguered national team coach Dan Campbell, then the U.S. flamed out in Beijing, failing to win a gold or silver medal for the first time.

Now, itâ€™s time for change.

Before the 2012 London Games, boxers will work with their private instructors, the person who replaces Campbell, and recently appointed high performance director Patrick Borkowski, and if thereâ€™s a resident program, it will last only a few months.

"It will be much more of an integrated team idea," said Jim Millman, chief executive officer of Colorado Springs-based USA Boxing. "The national coach brings benefits and values, and the personal coach has the history and the experience and the trust. You want to bring that together. Thatâ€™s a huge change, and I think itâ€™s going to be a major plus."

USA Boxing has received 2012 commitments from reigning flyweight world champion Rauâ€™shee Warren, bidding to become the first American to fight in three Olympics, and super-heavyweight Michael Hunter, who narrowly missed an Olympic berth.

Welterweight Demetrius Andrade, middleweight Shawn Estrada and heavyweight Deontay Wilder signed professional contracts last year. A bantamweight, Russell has a pro fight scheduled this month, and Yanez, a light-flyweight, and lightweight Sadam Ali are expected to make their pro debuts in February.

Millman anticipates boxers preparing for London can receive medical benefits, insurance and national team stipends â€” Warren got free room and board and $2,000 a month from the U.S. Olympic Committee in 2008 â€” without living at the OTC.

"How can we let them tap those benefits but not get hung up on moving there?" Millman said. "If youâ€™re 20 and single and in a very difficult home environment, you might live in Colorado Springs. If youâ€™ve got a tremendous support system in Boston and big family commitments, you may spend much less time in Colorado."

Chances are Molina, a light-welterweight, and featherweight Raynell Williams will decide whether to remain amateur after Campbellâ€™s successor is hired.

The application deadline is Jan. 15, with a June 1 projected start date. In 2007, Campbell made $70,250 and had $13,473 in employee benefits and deferred compensation, according to USA Boxingâ€™s latest income tax returns.

"We gave Dan the support to execute his plan and his system," Millman said. "There are parts of it that worked. There are parts of it that didnâ€™t work. Weâ€™d like to have the best of both going forward. ... We are looking for a guy who has shown an Olympic-caliber record of success in training an athlete."
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REEDsART · Jan 7, 2009

Mitchell Kane said: ↑

Boston Herald:
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Tooooooooo Little Tooooooooo LATE...

Months PRIOR to the Olympics, the Fighters OPENLY COMPLAINED about the Resident Program & their Personal Coaches NOT Being Allowed, N Particular...

Jim Millman DIDN'T Want to Hear ANY Of it Then, but NOW he Wants to Heed the Very Advice he was Being Given ALL ALONG???...

Despite their LACK of Medal Success, the 2008 U.S. Squad was VERY Talented, as their Pro Careers will Illustrate...But USABoxing's STUBBORN Arrogance PREVENTED that Talent from Blossoming N Beijing...

REED:boohoo:

StingerKarl · Jan 7, 2009

The great amateur coaches are all gone, and most of these kids today slap instead of punching through the target.

Don't expect much out of 2012, folks.

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US Olympic Boxing: Taking a Beating

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