adminAMIR Khan has joined Wladimir Klitschko in voicing his eagerness to go to Rio next summer if plans are approved for professional boxers to compete in the Olympics. Perish the thought. There is something ghoulish about this plot thickening during Halloween weekend. I say this despite my deep respect for both men and my understanding of how dearly Khan would love to improve on the silver medal he won so valiantly at the Athens Games in 2004.
“There may soon be a decision to admit pros to the Olympics. That would be amazing, massive,” said Khan. “The chance to win a second gold medal 20 years after the first would be a dream come true,” said Klitschko. Now listen to the voice of reason. It belongs to Roy Jones Jnr, who says: “Imagine your 19-year-old son going to Rio and finding himself in the ring with Wladimir. I say no.”
Jones makes that declaration even though he was blatantly robbed of the gold medal in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. He landed almost three times as many punches in the final as South Korean local boxer Park Si-hun – 86-32 – but still lost a disgraceful decision. He speaks out even though he, like Klitschko, is a veteran still fighting at world championship level.
“The Olympics are for the young and ambitious but once you turn professional boxing becomes your job,” said Jones in Moscow where Vladimir Putin has just granted him Russian citizenship and where will be fighting Enzo Maccarinelli next month, perhaps for the WBA world cruiserweight title.
The prospect of the Khans and Klitschkos of the ring beating up Olympic kids has been raised by the once-amateur International Boxing Association – AIBA – encouraging famous prize-fighters to work with them as they try to expand their role in the sport. The basis for this rationale is that the professional stars of other sports – the likes of Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic , Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods – are already eligible for the Olympics.
The glaring difference is that in games like tennis and golf they are hitting small balls instead of the heads of opponents and no-one is in danger of being killed. Jones speaks common sense, even as he pushes his own career beyond the normal age limits in the hope of becoming the first in boxing history to win world titles in every division from middleweight to heavyweight. But the decision to try to complete that set with a cruiserweight belt is his mature decision to make at the age of 46. Fully grown world champions battering inexperienced youths is a more dangerous matter altogether. Yet it could happen, despite the complexities of Olympic qualification.
The Ukraine boxing federation originally indicated it would be unlikely to offer Rio nomination to Klitschko, who won gold medal at Atlanta 1996.
Now it has told US Olympics TV broadcaster NBC that no decision has been made, as has AIBA. Klitschko’s country of birth has yet to secure a heavyweight spot next summer but will have a last chance to do so at a European tournament at the end of April. Whether Klitschko might make a pit-stop there after defending all his world heavyweight belts against our own Tyson Fury in Dusseldorf this month, or take over the qualification by a fellow countryman, is unclear.
As is much concerning AIBA’s move, including Khan’s position despite the enthusiasm he expressed to the Statesman while attending the wedding of Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh to Bollywood star Geeta Basra in Delhi on Sunday. – DAILYMAIL.
Online Reporter