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Not all the Olympic winners in the boxing ring will become major world champions in the professional ring. Not all of them will try.
Many will start preparing for either retirement, like Dublin’s Kellie Harrington, or the next Olympics in Los Angeles in four years. We will know about LA by next summer.
There are some, however, with a clear path and vision and before the torch went out late on Sunday night, they had already started their pilgrimage to the paid ranks.
When Bakhodir Jalolov retired his boxing vest, placing it tenderly on the canvas at the end of his final, it was a clear sign that he would now concentrate on winning the world heavyweight title. Jalolov is 30, unbeaten and certainly untested in 14 fights in the professional business; he has not taken a single risk as a pro and only has competitive fights over the three-round distance at the world championships and the Olympics. Has he left it too late, and can he adjust to the longer distances?
The Big Uzbek, as he is known, might just be a genius over three rounds; we have no idea what will happen over eight or 10 and it is certainly time to find out. His only mildly competitive fight in Paris was against the entertaining Australian, Teremoana Teremoana. However, his last competitive fight was probably against Richard Torrez Jr in the Tokyo Olympic final. Torrez Jr is now unbeaten in 10 as a pro, with every fight ending early.
Jalolov is the master of nine minutes and reminds me of Cuban boxing legend Teofilo Stevenson in the way he controls the ring and lets his hands go; the difference is that Jalolov does not finish men the way Stevenson did. There was only one stoppage in 15 fights at super-heavyweight and it was not Jalolov’s fists doing the damage.
Stevenson knocked out nine men on his way to his three Olympic gold medals in 1972, 1976 and 1980.
The semi-final at lightweight for women between old rivals Harrington and Beatriz Ferreira was arguably the fight of the Games. They met in the final in Tokyo, Harrington won that and refused all cash offers to leave the amateur sport. Ferreira did turn pro and earlier this year, in just her fifth fight, won the IBF world lightweight title.
The pair met on the second Saturday, bout 190, and it was a classic from the first 10 seconds. It should have been the final, a fight for 15,000 at Roland Garros and not for a few thousand in a warehouse near the airport at the very edge of the city.
Harrington was too quick in the first, Ferreira won the second and they never surrendered an inch in the last. The 4-1 split went to Harrington. A few days later she won gold for the second time. She is not interested in the professional business; Ferreira is back on the trail of a massive fight, possibly with Katie Taylor.
The American team threatened, but only light-middle Omari Jones won a medal. He was impressive, just a bit naive at this level. At the same weight, Marco Verde was great to watch. The Mexican will probably be a pro by Christmas; Jones is already holding talks. Team GB’s only boxing medallist Lewis Richardson could have got the nod against Verde in their semi. Both Jones and Verde were beaten by another outstanding Uzbek, Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev.
It was a great tournament and there will be a lot of future stars in the professional game from Paris – some won here and some lost, but all that matters is that they can fight.
