A s Olympic careers go, Robert Shannon got blind-sided twice.
The first came in 1980, when he was in the Soviet Union taking part in exhibition boxing matches in preparation for the upcoming Summer Olympics. The 17-year-old Shannon and his teammates soon got word that they could head home, for the United States was planning to boycott the Moscow Games.
When his delayed Olympic debut came four years later, Shannon felt a painful sense of dj vu. This time, the bantamweight boxer got sent home by a punch from Korea’s Moon Sung-Kil in a preliminary bout.
Shannon said he was easily winning the bout through two rounds before leaving himself open for Moon’s knockout punch in the third.
“I got caught, I got knocked down, and I never got up,” said Shannon, who compared the aftermath to the hangover that follows a drunken blackout.
Adding insult to injury, Shannon was one of just two U.S. boxers in the 12 weight classes not to earn a medal. Eight Americans won gold in a year that saw so much talent that Mike Tyson was an alternate.
Yet Shannon doesn’t dwell on what could have been, either in 1980 or ‘84.
“I started my career in the basement of the Lynnwood Elks Club in the fall of 1974,” Shannon said, “and by 1980 I was having lunch at the White House with President Carter and the rest of the Olympians. That summer, I spent time with Muhammad Ali at his camp. And four years later, I’m in Los Angeles and roommates with Evander Holyfield and in the same dorm with Michael Jordan.
“What more could you ask for?”
Shannon’s delayed path to the Olympics certainly had its share of odd detours. While at Woodway High School, he wrestled for the varsity team and trained as a boxer during his rare moments of free time. On one Saturday during his junior year, Shannon won a regional wrestling tournament in Shorewood in the morning, then was driven to Tacoma, where he won a Golden Gloves match that night.
His dedication to boxing forced him to drop out of high school during his junior year. He eventually got his GED and went on to community college after the Olympics, and began a modest career as a pro boxer that yielded an 18-6-2 record with six knockouts.
He says he made decent money during the pro career, but said that about $250,000 – over half of his earnings – was stolen by financial handlers.
Shannon retired from professional boxing in 1990 and went into a career as a barber that continues today. The high school dropout spent the last of his ring earnings about four years ago.
He’s married now, and living comfortably. So Shannon holds no regrets about a boxing career that took him to places he never would have imagined possible.
As for missing out on the 1980 Olympics, Shannon never wonders what could have been.
“I just felt bad for the older people, because that was their last chance to be there,” he said.
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