Boxing: Fame and fortune await a golden few

Sydney: Mike Tyson wept tears of frustration when Henry Tillman beat him for a place on the 1984 US Olympic boxing team.

As the teenage heavyweight left the trials with the remainder of the squad, a woman at the airport wished him luck. "She must mean good luck on the flight," smirked Tillman, who went on to win the gold medal.

Tyson never did get a shot at the Olympics, leaving the amateurs in 1985, and his later career as undisputed professional world champion amply demonstrated that you do not have to be a gold medallist to strike it rich.But, as the Sydney tournament awaits the opening bell on Saturday, everyone knows it helps.

With the exception of the Cubans, who have dominated amateur boxing for decades but cannot fight professionally, many of the gloved-up athletes in Sydney will be looking to enhance their earning power and impress the promoters.

"At the end of the day, this is the one that matters," said former professional heavyweight "Aussie Joe" Bugner, getting ready for work as a television pundit at the venue.

"Most of the great heavyweights who came good...have done well at the Olympics," added Bugner, who never fought at a Games and had to be content with some big fights and one of the lesser "alphabet soup" world titles.

Champions

Bugner could cite familiar world champions such as Lennox Lewis back through George Foreman and Joe Frazier to Muhammad Ali, light-heavyweight champion in 1960 as Cassius Clay.

Not forgetting brothers Leon and Michael Spinks in 1976 and Floyd Patterson in 1952. Or Evander Holyfield, who took a light-heavyweight bronze in 1984 after a sensational disqualification for a late blow.

Or light-welterweight "Sugar Ray" Leonard in 1976.

"If you win a gold medal by sensational knockout, everybody in the world knows who you are. If a fighter does crack it, he will become a millionaire, there's no question about it," commented Bugner of the power of Olympic exposure.

Ukrainian super-heavyweight Vladimir Klitchko, Hungarian bantamweight Istvan Kovacs and American light-middleweight David Reid all enhanced their reputations and bank balances with gold in 1996.

Some great professional champions have passed unnoticed through Olympics -- such as the 15-year-old Puerto Rican Wilfredo Gomez who in 1972 went out in the first round to a little known Egyptian.

Gomez went on to defend the WBC junior-featherweight title 17 times and also took the featherweight crown in 1984.

But some at least of the future crop of professional champions are likely to be stepping through the ropes in the next few days and will be closely watched.

In Atlanta in 1996 it got to the point where former USA Boxing president Jerry Dusenberry complained that his men were being distracted by the professional promoters, managers and investors circling around them.Some of the new names could even be from unfamiliar countries on the boxing map.

The geography of boxing has changed greatly since the demise of the old Soviet Union, with new nations taking over and much of the developing world using the sport as their quickest route to the medals table.

Thailand and Algeria won the first boxing golds of their history in Atlanta and Tonga their first ever medal.

Only three champions from 1996 are defending their titles -- some of the Cubans have moved up or down a division -- leaving a new crop of hopefuls to begin the final stages of their journey to fame and fortune.

The big men are not in action until late next week, leaving the stage to the bantamweights and welterweights on Saturday.



(c) Reuters Limited.