Team USA Boxing has finally run aground (in the men's division anyway) after narrowly avoiding that catastrophe in the Beijing Games, winning zero medals for the first time in Olympic history. In 2008, American boxing was just barely spared that rock-bottom humiliation when heavyweight Deontay Wilder won a bronze medal.
Wilder has since grown into a 6'7" 26 year old, weighing about 220 and wielding an 84-inch reach. With a sound amateur pedigree and such physical gifts, Wilder looks like a formidable prospect. It has now been four years since Beijing, however, and since turning pro in August 2008 he has yet to even reach the fringe contender level. As Wilder continues to feast on tomato cans and journeymen, the question "when will Wilder step up?" becomes more and more valid.
Developing a World Champion
Credit: Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing
Even gold medal-winning Olympians do not emerge from the Summer Games as fully-formed world champions. They mi...
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