Amateurs to get prize money

Leroy Brown, Gleaner Writer

Amateur boxing history will be created this week when for the first time, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) will allow amateur boxers to receive prize money.

This ground-breaking precedent will be set at the AIBA World Cup Tournament, which will take place at the Ice Palace in Moscow, Russia, from December 10-14.

AIBA had announced last year that it was making an effort to bridge the gap between amateur and professional boxing and the plan is to have at least one major tournament each year, at which substantial prize money will be offered.

A start is being made this year at the AIBA World Cup, which will attract the eight best amateur boxers in the world, in each of the 11 weight classes.

Top finishers

These 88 boxers, drawn from the top finishers at the Olympic Games and the World Boxing Championships, will compete for money prizes of US$10,000 first prize, (gold medal), US$5,000 for second place (silver medal) and US$2,500 each for the third-place (bronze medal) finishers.

In the world of professional boxing where purses run into millions for world-championship fights, this prize money seems to be small. But when one takes into consideration that the bouts are being fought over four rounds of two minutes each, which equates with a preliminary fight on a professional card, these boxers will have nothing to complain about.

One also has to remember that in the world of track and field, when prize money was first paid the amount was much smaller then and a US$10,000 prize is still regarded as good purse money for some of their events.

As is to be expected, the world-ranked Russians with 10 boxers and the Cubans with eight, top the list of participants.

There is a very good mix, nevertheless, with countries such as China, India and Uzbekistan having four participants each. Uzbekistan's world champion, Abbos Atoev, is one of the favourites for the heavyweight title and no one would be surprised if he meets Russia's Artur Beterbiev in the final once more.

Lower-weight classes

In the lower-weight classes, Vasyl Lomachenko, who won the gold medal and the Val Barker Trophy as the outstanding boxer in the last Olympics, in the 57kg weight class, is one of the early front runners, but is expected to be challenged by boxers from Uzbekistan and Cuba.

The English-speaking Caribbean has only one boxer in this tournament. He is Toureano Johnson from The Bahamas, who is rated No. 6 in the world in the welterweight class. He participated in the Beijing Olympics and fell one short of the semi-finals and at least a bronze medal. He is contemplating a professional career and his performance in Moscow will go a far way to helping him make that critical decision.

Other Caribbean territories with one entry each are Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. It is interesting to note that the United States, which had a very bad Olympic experience in boxing this year, also have only one entry in the World Cup, Michael Hunter, in the super heavyweight division.

After the tournament, AIBA will name its most outstanding boxers for 2008.