Four years after U.S. boxer Claressa Shields “unexpectedly dominated the first Olympic women's boxing tournament, she is taking confident steps toward a tantalizing future,” according to Greg Beacham of AP. Shields is a “favorite to become the first two-time American Olympic boxing medalist.” Even after Shields' run in London, endorsement deals and wealth “didn't immediately follow.” She was “disappointed, but not surprised -- and she simply went back to work in the gym, making her achievements impossible to ignore.” Her corporate tie-ins “now include multiple sports-related companies, an auto manufacturer and a film rights deal with Universal.” She “doesn't even have to mention her gorgeous custom-made Under Armour boxing boots, with her initials and ‘Never let them see you sweat’ embroidered on the tongue.” She is “still chasing one particular endorsement, however.” Shields: “Hopefully I get on a Wheaties box. That's my ultimate goal. Or they can put me on Frosted Flakes, I don't care. I need to be on some kind of cereal box.” Beacham noted Shields has been an “enormous boon for USA Boxing, which didn't have a men's medalist in London.” Her success -- and the rising popularity of women's boxing in general -- allowed USA Boxing "to get the funds to hire veteran Irish amateur coach Billy Walsh, who oversees the entire team from his official position as the women's head coach” (
AP, 8/3).
CHANGES ON THE MEN'S SIDE: YAHOO SPORTS' Kevin Iole reported when the men's Olympic boxing competition begins on Saturday, observers "will notice three things: a different scoring system, no headgear and the presence of professionals in the field." The computerized scoring system "is gone, replaced by three judges who score the bouts on the 10-point must system common to fans of pro boxing." Scores "will be announced as 3-0 or 2-1." The AIBA determined that it is "actually safer for the fighters not to wear" headgear. There also "are pros who are going to compete in these Olympics." The most notable "is Cameroon’s Hassan N’Dam, who is 34-2 with 20 knockouts as a pro and lost middleweight world title bouts to David Lemieux and Peter Quillin." These changes "appear to have been made largely in a bid to recapture the American audience." But it is "not going to work, not until the American boxing program is revived in the first place and someone from the Olympic team becomes a star again" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 8/2).
