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Message: [QUOTE="JAXCUSE, post: 3923171, member: 516"] Judging (IMO) was much fairer and consistent than during the previous few Olympics. Allot better than Rio, which was pretty bad. Watched many of the Tokyo fights and didn’t see any decisions that were wildly off the mark. Unlike the pro WBA sanctioned 147 lb scap between Gabriel Maestre and Mykal Fox on Sat Night (corrupt, horrible robbery decision for the house prospect Maestre). I agree that the IOC can improve the refereeing though - too many 8 Counts after one clean punch landed without regard to the effect. Breaks up the flow of an exchange and the fight. IOC refs should protect boxers with the 8 but they are (in many instances) too quick to jump in before factoring the fighter’s reaction to the blow received. IMO…. Jalolov and Davis will be good pros, maybe championship level potential. Best non-Cuban performers (again, my opinion) included Sousa (Brazilian Middleweight) and Yafai (British Flyweight). Duke Ragan (American Featherweight) and a couple of the Kazakhs and Filipinos looked good as well. I didn’t see if Tokyo awarded the Val Barker Award (best overall boxer) for this Olympics. Not sure that Syracuse will produce another Pat Nappi (I guess we can hope). He was an amateur boxing institution and great teacher of the sport. Today’s high level U.S. amateur prospects are handled by big promoters, pro training conglomerates and money interests (like top Prep/High School Basketball players now). The exact opposite of the way Pat tried to run the national team. American team is not as “centrally organized” (training, coaching, scouting-infrastructure-tournaments-international competition, etc) today as it was during the three decades of Nappi’s stewardship. The real talent here is developed individually and prepared for the pro’s. Olympics is nothing but a marketing “showcase” for allot of the American youngsters - a way to get a coveted PBC/TR/DAZN contract and make money. I think the “American Olympic Boxing Drought” (last 25 yrs or so) is due (somewhat) to this. But, also, fewer American kids are boxing today (they don’t have to) and so many other options are available for the ultra gifted athlete in our society. Allot of good coaching and facilities has opened access for more (and better) amateur fighters overseas too - ain’t just the USA, Cuban and Soviet representatives competing for the medals (like during the Cold War). Along with Cuba (still), the Stan countries, Ukrainians, Brits, Philippines and even the PRC have good amateur programs now. Bottom Line - I suspect even Nappi would be challenged to assemble a contemporary USA Olympic Boxing “Super Team” (ala 76, 80 and 84). [/QUOTE]

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