A big change is coming to Olympic Boxing, and it will begin this summer.
Starting with the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, professional boxers will be allowed to compete in the Olympics. This is a change from the long-standing policy that kept the Olympics focused solely on amateurs. This move has been discussed for the past few months, but was officially approved earlier this week by sanctioning body AIBA. AIBA does not expect to see many professionals in Rio given the short notice, but are looking ahead at getting pro boxers to Tokyo in 2020.
One country that will not be sending in any professional boxers, at least in 2016, is the United States.