These past summer Olympics were a bad one for the U.S. Boxing Association. They only won a single medal, the bronze medal that Deontay Wilder brought home in the heavyweight class. So it’s no wonder to hear from recently-turned pro Shawn Estrada why that might have been.The East Los middleweight was promoting his professional debut fight Nov. 29 on HBO when he was asked why he was happy to turn pro.

“I’m excited, especially that I get to have my own coaching staff, and not that Team USA situation,” Estrada told The Times. “That was chaos.”

Ooh, that’s never a good way to start out a conversation.

We documented the trouble with USA boxing during the Summer Games in Beijing, and Estrada said it was awful being forced to train in Colorado Springs, away from his regular trainer and his ailing father, who died before the Olympics were over. “I was told, ‘Everybody has problems,’ ” Estrada said.

Wow, if that’s true… get fucking bent USA boxing. No wonder you fielded a team that looked like they just got their first pair of training gloves in Beijing before the fights. Estrada and his dad deserved better than that, especially since the elder was also a member of Mexico’s national boxing squad. We understand the rigors that Olympic athletes go through and they need to be focused, but when your dad’s on his deathbed, how can you focus?

Olympics boxer Shawn Estrada is now a pro [LA Times]
Boxing Final Day Review: China wins first gold medals, while Cuba misses out [Olympics.cn]
Image [LA Times]