Columnist Dean Juipe: Voy, Steward are amateurs’ guiding hands

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, April 2, 2002 | 10:45 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

The purpose of amateur boxing in this country isn't to provide a steady stream of athletes for the pros, or, for that matter, even to win international acclaim. Rather, it is, as USA Boxing president Dr. Robert Voy says, to "learn self-reliance and defensive skills while instilling the value of good citizenship."

Yet there isn't any question that the public gauges the amateur game by the former criteria and that winning Olympic medals and developing competent professionals is paramount to USA Boxing's overall success. As such, in recent years it has largely failed, as both Voy and trainer Emanuel Steward readily admitted Monday when quizzed on the subject.

"It is an uphill battle," Voy said, referring not only to the United States' Olympic medal drought but to obtaining corporate and TV support. "The character of the sport ... the lack of funding ... not being competitive internationally, all of these things have been working against us."

Each man is trying diligently to turn the situation around and some of their efforts may be visible at the Everlast U.S. Men's Championships that open today and run through Saturday at Caesars Palace.

In Voy's case, he'd like this tournament to become "a showcase" of sorts and perhaps lead to a greater corporate involvement not only in Las Vegas but throughout the country.

"It's been some years since Vegas was interested," he said. "But I'd like to see us get the Olympic Box-Offs back here, and this tournament might be something of a trial package toward that goal."

The Box-Offs were last held in Las Vegas in 1988, at the Mirage, and if memory serves me they were interesting and successful. Perhaps coincidentally, that was the last year U.S. boxers had any significant impact on the Olympic Games.

"Corporations don't want to see Americans beaten," Steward rationalized about the decline of support from the country's board rooms in recent years.

Voy agrees that it will take a wave of exciting fighters to rekindle the type of corporate support he is seeking for USA Boxing.

"I'm disappointed, basically," he said of raising money for the 25,000 youngsters who fight under the USA Boxing umbrella. "On the face of things, corporate America says they support efforts to keep youth off streets, etc. Yet when we go to them, they just will not support us.

"It's been really terrible."

USA Boxing has overcome its internal, financial troubles yet remains hamstrung by insurance costs that Voy says have risen 100 percent in the past year. The organization charges its members a mere $27 per year for a complete health-care package.

"We're not like some of the other elite sports," Voy said, referring to upper-class endeavors such as gymnastics, swimming and tennis that charge their athletes greater fees. "I think that keeps us behind."

There is no quick fix yet Voy would like to have his cause gain some momentum this week and Steward remarked that the country's best amateurs may yet be in the junior ranks. So it'll take time and patience before a reversal is noticed.

But these are two strong men who aren't likely to be deterred.