It’s not exactly clear what USA Boxing’s open letter to Mike Tyson was supposed to accomplish. At first glance, it reads like a desperate plea to keep professional boxing promoters such as Tyson’s Iron Mike Productions from signing the best young amateurs in the United States. Read closer and appears to be a money grab at Tyson’s expense.
The letter made public on Tuesday and signed by Dr. Charles F. Butler, the president of USA Boxing, begged Tyson to “stop offering money to our best athletes to turn professional.”
The organization is apparently miffed Tyson’s company signed Erickson Lubin of Florida on Tuesday, his 18th birthday. Lubin is a two-time Junior Olympic champion and won the 152-pound National Golden Gloves.
“You are offering these athletes pennies on the dollar of what they could be worth with an Olympic medal or even potentially just being an Olympian,” the letter continued. “You are also undermining the next United States Olympic Boxing Team in the process.”
USA Boxing’s concern of being poached of its best medal prospects for the 2016 Games in Rio is understandable. But the letter loses some of its credibility by reading like a fundraising campaign using Tyson’s name for attention.
At one point it suggests Tyson “should donate for athlete stipends to support the training of these boxers and help your country regain its prominence on the medal stand.” Later in the letter it asks any readers “who have compassion for these struggling athletes to donate what they can so we can help them pursue their Olympic dreams.” An address for “Open Letter Donations” is given.
Seems to me, USA Boxing could find a better way to market itself. Clearly, boxing promoters are in a competitive business and on the lookout for promising talent. The old model of signing fighters after the Olympics has given way to a more urgent approach as television networks look for more boxing programming.
It’s up to the boxer, his family and his advisers to decide when is the right time to turn pro — just like it is for any football, basketball and baseball player. No one forced Lubin to sign a pro contract.
It can be argued the value of the Olympic experience isn’t what it used to be when Sugar Ray Leonard and Oscar De La Hoya won their gold medals and Evander Holyfield and Roy Jones Jr. were Olympics heroes. Tyson tried to make the 1984 Olympic team, but lost in the Trials to Henry Tillman. The last U.S. Olympian to win gold in boxing was Andre Ward in 2004. He’s just now becoming a household name, and last year’s U.S. team didn’t win a single medal in London.
A recent reorganization of USA Boxing has raised optimism for a return to success. But targeting Tyson and other professional promoters is the wrong approach. USA Boxing needs to raise the profile of being an Olympian to the point where its prospects won’t accept the “pennies on the dollar” the promoters are offering. But that’s on USA Boxing. Not on Iron Mike.