COLORADO SPRINGS — To be sure, there are some exciting venues on the horizon when it comes to Olympic boxing, London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro four years later.
But when it comes to the United States and its prospects for getting rid of the black eye that has accompanied its dismal performance in the past two Olympic Games, perhaps no location is more important than Colorado Springs.
On Friday, the membership of USA Boxing, in conjunction with the 2010 National Championships that are taking place here, will vote for a new board of directors. The results of that election may well determine the path the U.S. team travels into future Olympiads.
“How we handle things now will go a long way in dictating how things go for us for the next two Olympic Games,” said Joe Zanders, an assistant coach on the 2004 U.S. team. “I’m concerned that we do it the right way; I hope we do. We’re behind the 8-ball. We still can do well in England, but we really need to tighten this up and get it together.”
It seems ludicrous to think U.S. boxing, the all-time leader in medals and the nation that put luminaries such as Cassius Clay, George Foreman and Sugar Ray Leonard on the Olympic stage, would be in such disrepair. But the proof is there, in black and white, if not gold.
The last Team USA champion was Andre Ward, who won the light heavyweight division in Athens in 2004. But that, along with a bronze medal from Andre Dirrell, was the only hardware won by the U.S. in those Olympics. Four years later in Beijing, things got worse. The U.S. not only failed to win gold, it earned just one medal — a bronze shared by heavyweight Deontay Wilder and Cuba’s Osmay Acosta.
“There’s nowhere to go but up when you hit the bottom like we did in Beijing,” said Robert Brant, a promising light heavyweight from Minnesota.
World Series of Boxing looks like big hit
Just two years from the 2012 London Games, the U.S. doesn’t have a national boxing coach and there is no executive director. As a result, it’s hard for decisions to get made, whether it’s sending staff out to find promising boxers to bring into the national program, or allowing boxers already in place to travel the world to meet the fighters they will be going against in the Olympics.
“Look at the other NGBs (national governing bodies),” Zanders said. “You have to be organized, with knowledgeable people in front, and you have to be prepared.
“You do that, usually you have success. Now look around. Track and field. Swimming. Volleyball. Do they have a national coach? Are they preparing for what they’re going to face? Are we? Who are we fooling? It’s critical that we get that done.”
One of the issues that has long faced American boxers is the lure of the professional ranks. Any remotely successful young U.S. boxer has almost immediately had a contract thrust at him right after the Olympics, meaning more fighters have to be brought into the pipeline and trained to get ready for the next Olympic cycle.
“Other countries have boxers fighting until they’re 27, 28, 29 years old. The mistakes they made when they were 18 or 19, they’re way past that,” Zanders said. “And they’re laughing it up because we’re sending these green kids out to fight them.”
That may be changing with the onset of the World Series of Boxing, a program that will allow fighters to earn as much as $300,000 a year while maintaining their Olympic eligibility.
“I think we have the best amateurs in the world, but they go pro,” Brant said. “Now, with the rise of the WSB, they’ll be a lot more returning Olympians, and when you have more returning athletes, you have more success.”
Brant said patriotism, not big bucks, has been the motivating force behind his career.
“Having the pro money, fame and all that other stuff is fine, but I’m really big on the honor of representing your country,” he said. “I love that stuff; hearing the national anthem as you’re standing on the podium, watching the flag being raised, I get chills, it does something to me. That’s what I want.”
Women’s boxing in London may lift U.S.
Only 19, Brant is the defending national champion and one of a group of young fighters hoping for the chance to represent their country in the Games. It’s a group that also includes Louie Byrd of Denver, a two-time national champion, and Errol Spence of Dallas, who won the 2009 championship in the welterweight division.
“I think about London all the time,” Brant said. “I think about it when I wake up in the morning, and when I go to bed at night I dream about it.”
The U.S. chances in London may be bolstered by the inclusion of women’s boxing into the Games. Females will compete in three weight classes, potentially giving America 16 chances to return from England with its glory intact.
But that process begins Friday in Colorado Springs.
“We have a lot of young fellas and young ladies who have a lot of potential, but they make a lot of technical mistakes in the ring,” Zanders said. “We know each other; I can look in the other corner in a U.S. meet and tell my guy what’s going to happen before the fight even begins.
“But put someone out there against a Cuban, against a Ukrainian, and that’s not the case at all, we have no idea what’s coming. In order to get ready for the future, we need a program that will allow them to prepare for international competition.”
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com
USA Boxing Senior National Championships
When: Afternoon and evening sessions through Saturday (afternoon session only on Friday). Women’s non- Olympic weight class finals start at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Men’s and women’s Olympic weight class finals start at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Where: Colorado Springs, at the Olympic Training Center (preliminaries and third-place bouts) and Crowne Plaza Hotel ballroom (championship bouts)
What: Champions decided in 10 weight classes for men and women from the ages of 17 and 34. Male champions qualify for the European Tour. Female champions qualify for the Women’s World Championship.
Tickets: $20; or 719-576-2626
