(OCT 1) WBAN has received
an open letter from the USA Boxing, to Mike Tyson, who has begun
promoting his own boxing cards. President Charles F.
Butler, MD, PhD, said the following:
Dear Mike Tyson,
USA Boxing trains and develops the United States Olympic Boxing Team. We have
been working hard to develop athletes to compete for our country in the 2016
Olympics. We provide structure for many young athletes in poorer communities who
are in dire need of guidance. We try to help our young men and women develop
their boxing skills, and try to teach them values, a moral code, and the skills
necessary to have a life after boxing.
Iron Mike Productions is offering money to our best athletes to turn
“professional”. Many of these youngsters are living in poverty. These young
boxers are foregoing their Olympic hopes and the hopes of our nation in exchange
for a professional boxing contract now. 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. You are also undermining the next United
States Olympic Boxing Team in the process.
Mike, USA Boxing does not have the funds to compete with your offers. If you
have money and would like to assist these young athletes and the sport, you
should donate for athlete stipends to support the training of these boxers and
help your country regain its prominence on the medal stand. Please do not take
them from us. If they win a medal for their country, you can always sign them to
professional contracts at that time.
We have heard that you were waiting for early October so that our best hope, a
17-year-old athlete, can turn 18 and be of age to sign a contract with you. We
have offered him a spot in our resident program at the U.S. Olympic Training
Center where he can train in a safe environment and we can provide for his
education. The facilities and support services at the Olympic Training Center
are unmatched and would benefit him and his future in boxing greatly.
Mike, an athlete who is just turning 18 is too young for the world of
professional boxing. The other promoters are not prematurely stalking our future
Olympic stars at this time. You were a prodigy within USA Boxing in the early
1980s and understand the importance of our program; please don’t harm our 2016
Olympic team.
We ask, Mike, that you stop actions that will end these athletes’ Olympic
dreams. The value of these youngsters can increase dramatically if they become
Olympians and, better yet, Olympic medalists. You are offering them a pittance
of their future worth.
USA Boxing’s dedicated volunteers give their lives and their time to rescue our
young people from the disadvantaged communities often riddled with crime, drugs
and gangs. We provide an outlet for these young people to release their
aggression in a positive matter under strict supervision. We are the safest of
contact sports---for example, boxing has just one-third the concussion rate of
football. A doctor is present at every competition and every athlete receives
pre and post-bout physicals, which is often more medical care than others in
their community are receiving.
USA Boxing asks any readers of this letter who have compassion for these
struggling athletes to donate what they can so we can help them pursue their
Olympic dreams. Donations to USA Boxing can be made at: usaboxing.org or sending
to:
USA Boxing
Open Letter Donations
1 Olympic Plaza
Colorado Springs, CO 80909
USA Boxing is currently moving in the right direction, our junior athletes won
four gold medals in World Championships action in the last month and the United
States has claimed 75 international medals in 2013. We are working extremely
hard to give our young athletes the right resources, coaching and guidance to
succeed at the highest levels.
Mike, you have been blessed with the talent to advance as far as you did in the
sport of boxing. Please do the right thing now. Let our young boxers develop and
represent the United States proudly in Rio de Janeiro. Don’t hurt your country
by signing these athletes before they are ready to make the transition to
professional boxing. Let’s work together to protect our fine young men and women
as they seek to fulfill their Olympic dreams. Give them the opportunity to win
in the arena, to become role models for succeeding generations and Olympic
heroes for our country.
I ask your help.
Charles F. Butler, MD, PhD
President
USA Boxing
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