al shot to beat the Americans. No matter who they bring.Its why there were certifiable murmurs that Australia, after such a great start in Group A, was legitimately weighing the prospect of playing its NBAers limited minutes in the sec

LOS ANGELES -- Many of the 40 men leaving Rio de Janeiro with Olympic boxing medals around their necks in three weeks will have their pick of professional promoters eager to reward them with riches and fame.For the 12 women who claim medals in the second Olympic womens boxing tournament, the pro options still arent glittery.Several years after the International Boxing Association (AIBA) won its fight to get womens boxing into the Olympics, the games still represent the apex of the sport. While womens boxing has grown in prestige and popularity since the inaugural London tournament, female pros still languish behind their male counterparts in money, exposure and opportunities.Claressa Shields and Katie Taylor could be in position to change that if the two biggest Western names in the amateur game can claim a second gold.Whichever promoter takes on womens boxing is going to be a very wealthy man, especially if he takes up me, said Shields, the 21-year-old American middleweight. If he wants some money, he knows what to do.Shields dominated in London as a teenager, and she is favored to win again in Rio. But when she hears about the opportunities available to hot-prospect bantamweight Shakur Stevenson and her other American teammates, she wonders whether shell ever be able to cash in.Its like that because nobody actually goes pro from the womens (sport) yet, Shields said. We have to see what opportunities await after my Olympic gold medal run. Im just weighing my options right now. I dont know.Taylor, the 2012 lightweight gold medalist and a five-time world champion, is arguably the most accomplished female athlete in her native Irelands history. Taylor also has spoken about her interest in going pro, and its not tough to imagine her fame translating into professional riches.But Shields and Taylor are still waiting for a promoter or a television network to step up with enough of a commitment to make them bankable stars. Many promoters have tried with fighters from Laila Ali to Christy Martin, but the titular payday of Hilary Swanks character in Clint Eastwoods Oscar-winning 2004 film, Million Dollar Baby, remains fiction.Ive never been able to make womens boxing pay, said Top Rank boss Bob Arum, who promoted former WBC champion Mia St. John. I tried to take it on. I might still do it again, but I wasnt successful. Its always been that you start them, you pay them small amounts, and then they read their press clippings and they want a lot of money, but they dont bring it in. I dont know how to make it work yet.But womens combat sports have evolved dramatically in the past four years. Shields and Arum both point to mixed martial arts as a reason for optimism: The UFC has turned womens MMA into a vibrant, money-making sport, and Ronda Rousey -- who signed with the UFC in November 2012 -- became the sports most prominent fighter of any gender.Yeah, and Ronda is a bronze medalist, not a gold medalist, know what I mean? Shields said of Rousey, who won bronze in judo in Beijing.Womens UFC title fights headlined two consecutive fight cards in Las Vegas earlier this month. Last weekend, longtime pro boxer Holly Holms headlining non-title bout against Valentina Shevchenko was one of the highest-rated UFC shows in Foxs history.You have to notice what UFC did, Arum said. Theyve built their female fighters into stars. They made Rousey into the big superstar of that sport. I dont know whether that could happen in boxing. I dont see why not, but its never happened.Holm won multiple world titles while boxing mostly in casinos in her native New Mexico. She clearly makes more money from the UFC than she ever did on the pro boxing circuit, but money wasnt Holms motivation for the change.I definitely think it can happen for womens boxing, Holm said. Right now is hard, because its not really mainstream. But look how quickly womens MMA blew up. It could be the same. Women who are passionate about boxing should follow it. Stay passionate about it. People arent going to give you the opportunities before you show something.The right promoter for womens boxing could be the organization that put women into the Olympics in the first place.AIBA has two professional boxing ventures for men as it seeks a larger role in the pro game, and President Wu Ching-Kuo has been a vocal advocate for womens boxing throughout his tenure. AIBAs World Series of Boxing doesnt include women yet, but executive director Karim Bouzidi has said he expects female fighters to be included by next year.U.S. lightweight Olympian Mikaela Mayer has already fought on a WSB card as a special attraction, and while she hasnt decided to turn pro, she is intrigued by a prizefighting future after her first Olympics in Rio.The pros havent been big for women because there hasnt been a platform for us, Mayer said. Now that were allowed into the Olympics, it also gives us credibility. We can go to the pros and say, `Look, Im an Olympian. Im a gold medalist. Theyre going to want to sign us. Its just evolution and time.Cheap Air Max Sale . The 15th-ranked Canadian men lost the opening two games of their European tour: 19-15 to No. 17 Georgia and 21-20 to No. Cheap Air Max 1 Australia . -- Aaron Murray threw for 408 yards and three touchdowns, ran for another score, and led No. http://www.cheapaustraliaairmax1.com/ .C. -- When North Carolina freshman Ryan Switzer reported to training camp in August he was a little miffed to learn he was third on the depth chart at punt returner. Cheap Air Max 1 . Miller finished in two minutes, 6.09 seconds, one day before the first medal race on the Alpine schedule. The 36-year-old American also turned in the top time in Thursdays opening training session. Cheap Authentic Air Max 1 . Datsyuk will miss Tuesdays game against New Jersey and could be sidelined longer, while Cleary will likely miss at least the next three games. Its been an injury-plagued season for Datsyuk, who has suited up for just 39 games.RIO DE JANEIRO -- It had the sound, from an omen perspective, of the flat-out wrong address. A booking gone bad.Housing all those famous faces from the NBA on a luxury cruise liner called The Silver Cloud?At the Olympics?You were moved to question the wisdom of that choice once or twice in the early stages Sunday, when stubborn Serbia managed to hang with mighty Team USA for a quarter at Carioca Arena 1. You couldnt help but think: Imagine the storms and ridicule that would greet the Americans if they only managed to bring silver home from these Rio Games.And then Kevin Durant, turning ruthless in the last game well see him play before he starts his new under-the-microscope life with the increasingly villainous Golden State Warriors, staged a hostile international takeover to make you laugh at yourself for wasting any brain cells on the idea.There would be no storms, or lasting fears of silver, on this afternoon. The Americans ultimately rolled in a 96-66 rout, with Durant erupting for 24 of his 30 points by halftime -- 15 of them in the second quarter -- to turn an edgy 19-15 game after a period into a 23-point laugher at the break.Five mostly d-e-e-p 3s from Durant in the first half, with a couple of memorable dunks thrown in, put KD on a path to match his 30 points from the gold-medal game in London 2012, essentially clinched a record third gold medal for teammate Carmelo Anthony before the second half and ensured that Mike Krzyzewski would bid farewell to the international game with a 76-game winning streak to take back to Duke.Best of all, Durant made the Americans final hours on Brazilian soil their most comfortable of the whole trip.What followed after the break was a predictable in-game party for the Americans, with Durant eventually serving as head cheerleader at the end thanks to a lead that stretched as high as 41 points, all of which banished the memories of those nervy three single-digit victories in their first seven games here.We were pissed going into the locker room, Durant said the other day, reflecting on Serbias near upset of the tournaments overwhelming favorites in group play on Aug. 12. Not because we wanted to blow every team out. Just because we didnt play well at all.But now Im just like, Hey, man, if we lose this game, we lose it. If we win it, then great, we move on. That helps me. It may not help other players, but it helps me. Ive just embraced who I am as a basketball player.He truly couldnt have looked more comfortable in his last act on the Rio stage. A summer that began with U.S. players loathing the Molten brown-and-white ball used in international play and struggling to adjust to the slightly shorter 3-point line came to a close with Durant routinely squaring up from far beyond NBA range and hitting triple after triple.This one changed completely once Krzyzewski put reserves Paul George, Kylle Lowry, Jimmy Butler and DeMarcus Cousins around Durant.dddddddddddd The Serbs couldnt cope with their length and athleticism and pressure on the ball, then watched helplessly as Durant sailed in for a slam and a 45-25 cushion when multiple defenders rushed out to try to crowd him on the perimeter.Making 3s was the Serbs only realistic shot of hanging in?, but they were hounded into fatal 4-for-24 shooting from deep. Any remaining hope was snuffed out by Team USAs crushing 54-33 edge on the boards.As Durant said after the Yanks semifinal win over Spain: Weve got two lineups -- guys who can just score and we got energy lineups -- and we mix them together pretty well.Team Energy doomed the runners-up this time, with Cousins (11 of his 13 points in the first half) causing plenty of trouble himself while his Serbian boss -- Sacramento Kings general manager Vlade Divac -- watched helplessly himself from the stands.Anthony was scoreless in the first half and managed just seven points in the finale, but it never mattered. The rout was on and allowed Team USA to fly home Sunday night with a passable average victory margin of 22.5 for the tournament after its struggles in pool play.We never said we was gonna run through everybody, Anthony told ESPN earlier in the tournament. We never said that we was gonna win every game by 30 or 40. The games that we do, we do. The games that we dont, we dont.Serbia, truth be told, was surely fearful that it would fall in the do category of routs, since many international teams quietly subscribe to the theory that, in tournaments such as these, youre only going to get one real shot to beat the Americans. No matter who they bring.Its why there were certifiable murmurs that Australia, after such a great start in Group A, was legitimately weighing the prospect of playing its NBAers limited minutes in the second half of its Aug. 10 encounter with Team USA, believing that it might be better to save its supposed best for a potential rematch in the medal round.Turns out that the Aussies never got that second chance after getting unexpectedly smoked by Serbia in the semis, while the Serbs went on to validate the one-shot-only theory by steadily fading away once Durant got hot, turning this into a virtual rerun of the 2014 FIBA World Cup final in Spain that Team USA won by 37.How will this incarnation of the U.S. national team be remembered? Too soon to say.Yet it was clear on the U.S. bench at the end, amid a hearty round of hugs for Anthony once the expected medal shade of gold began to sink in, that Krzyzewski was as fond of this group as any of the squads that preceded it.Its been the ultimate honor of my life in coaching, Coach K said this week, and Ive coached for 41 years. ' ' '