Oscar: Olympic example

Can you imagine a young British lad winning the Olympics in London? The attention and the opportunities would be limitless - never mind a gold medal, you'd be talking about a real gold mine if that happens.

Glenn McCrory
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The main focus this will be on the amateur world championships in Chicago - but we should all have one eye on London 2012 as well.

We're sending a Great Britain squad of 13 out to the States and there is going to be more pressure on them than ever to perform, with the Olympics coming here in five years' time.

In most of the weight categories, reaching the quarter-finals will mean a place at the 2008 games in Beijing. It's crucial that we get boys there so we can make sure we are in good health for when the games come to London.

They have a better chance as well, thanks to the Cubans not sending a team. At the last 'world's' they took a team of nine and eight came back with golds, so I am sure our boys and the other 700-odd fighters are delighted they won't be in Chicago! But they are going to be at the qualifying tournament for China, so it's not all good news!

Our Olympic boxing success has been pretty limited of late. Other than Chris Finnegan some 40 years ago and Audley Harrison of course, we haven't had any gold-medal success. Audley didn't really build on it of course, but we've seen Amir Khan and Lennox Lewis and what it can do.

And can you imagine a young British lad winning the Olympics in London? The attention and the opportunities would be limitless - never mind a gold medal, you'd be talking about a real gold mine if that happens.

As the host nation, we do get a few automatic spots, but we have to make sure we have as strong a representation at our own Olympics as possible. As soon as the decision was announced I think everyone involved in amateur sport realised that they had to raise the game, and boxing has been no different.

Under the guidance of Paul King, the Amateur Boxing Association has made big improvements. They are working closely with Sport England and there has been a real shake-up and sense of purpose.

Medals

I am involved in all levels of the sport and although people always attack boxing for one reason or another, I do think the amateur game in this country is in a very healthy state right now.

The number of clubs out there has gone up by a considerable amount in the last 10 years, and that can only be good for our chances in 2012.

The future of the very sport, this business we all love, depends on stars coming through. And there's no better place to do that than the Olympics. Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar de la Hoya, Lennox, they've all got their gold medals.

The lure of the pro game these days might make it seem a little old-fashioned, but recently when Floyd Mayweather was quibbling about getting less money than Oscar, Bob Arum just turned round and told him to put his medals on the table. He couldn't.

Our own Ricky Hatton didn't go down that Olympic route, but won a world championship at 17, so the role models are there, the examples for our young fighters if they can do well.

There is one problem though - and that is the vast difference between the professional and amateur games. Not just in terms of money and opportunities, but the boxing itself. I know one of the leading Olympic officials is trying to change things and take headguards away, so people can at least see who their champion boxers are.

But for me, the whole scoring system is far too different from what really goes on. I know it was changed after the Roy Jones debacle in Seoul, but I am not a fan. You want to see people using fast, fierce combinations and an exciting, aggressive style, but not getting points that easily means that isn't always the case.

Diluted

To score a point you need five guys to press the button at the same time. I've lost count of the times I've seen someone smash home a right and it not get a point because one of the judges hasn't seen it.

So it has become a little diluted in terms of the fighting, but in this country at least, the pros are working a lot more with the amateurs and that has to be good.

I know a lot of promoters will be keeping an eye on young Joe Murray - the brother of Manchester's John Murray - in Chicago, while of course, big things are expected of Frankie Gavin and Stephen Smith. From the north east we have Bradley Saunders, who is not one of my Northumbria boys - but I wish he was!

These lads are also good kids, not the rough and ready sorts people usually associate with boxing. When they have Hatton, Khan and Joe Calzaghe to look up to, they know that they can be decent, pleasant people with good characters and enjoy success. And that starts, as I am sure those three will tell you, with success in the amateurs.

On the professional scene, we saw a very important win for Carl Johanneson on Friday Fight Night. To put his British title on the line against someone like Michael Gomez after such a jarring defeat to Leva Kirakosyan was a bold move - and you wonder where he'd have gone had he lost.

But he came through which was great for him. I was talking to Gomez before the fight and he was so confident, sure he would prevail. I know he was complaining about the stoppage, but I think it was right. I like Michael Gomez but I do wonder what would've happened if he had ever worked on his defence a little bit instead of trying to knock the other guy out!

As for Johanneson, he now defends again against Kevin Mitchell, who might have gone off the boil a little, but is still another tough test.