Pros can box at Rio Olympics but Brisabane’s Joe Goodall don’t think they will

AS big Joe Goodall, Brisbane’s super-heavyweight Olympic contender, begins his hunt for gold in Rio he doubts any rich men will be blocking his path.

Olympic boxer Joe Goodall of Annerley. Picture: Peter Cronin

AS big Joe Goodall, Brisbane’s super-heavyweight Olympic contender, begins his hunt for gold in Rio he doubts any rich men will be blocking his path.

Last week, AIBA the world governing body for Olympic boxers, announced that professional boxers would now be eligible to compete at the 2016 Games just as professional athletes in other sports.

Theoretically Goodall could be opposed to Britain’s world champ Tyson Fury or the Ukraine’s former world champ Wladimir Klitschko as he tries to win Australia’s first Olympic boxing gold medal.

AIBA president, Dr Ching-Kuo Wu said the remaining barriers preventing fulltime professionals from competing in the Olympics would be knocked out within months, adding that he wanted the world’s best boxers — amateur and professional — to come to the Olympic Games.

This was startling news to the likes of Goodall and hundreds of other amateur boxers around the world suddenly threatened by an avalanche of multi-millionaire professionals taking their coveted Olympic places.

Pro boxers such as world heavyweight champ Tyson Fury are now allowed to fight at the Olympic Games, but it’s unlikely they’ll be in action in Rio.

Goodall, though, says he reality is that few or any leading professionals will be taking part in these Olympics, with the rules and styles of fighting totally different.

Olympic boxing involves fast paced sprints of three three-minute rounds with a heavy emphasis on landing fast, clean punches. The top professionals fight more gruelling 12 three-minute round bouts with a greater emphasis on physical damage and knockouts.

``Olympic boxing is a very different sport to professional boxing,’’ Goodall said, ``and I can’t really see any of the top pros turning up in Rio.

``The top pro fighters all want big money to fight and big match ups take months to organise. I can’t see any of the big names risking injury at the Olympics for a small payday.’’

Goodall’s trainer Glenn Rushton, who also coaches London Olympian and leading professional welterweight Jeff Horn, said the idea of the Olympics being open to all fighters was ``a wonderful idea’’ but ``very impractical’’.

``Olympic qualifying events have been going on for months around the world and some fighters have sweated their guts out for years to make their national teams for Rio,’’ Rushton said.

``It’s unlikely that any of the various national federations would suddenly dump a boxer they’ve been developing for years so they can suddenly include pro boxers not used to fighting over the shorter distance.

``I couldn’t imagine someone like a Floyd Mayweather, who is used to fighting for millions, turning up in Rio on a few weeks’ notice and fighting a first-round bout against whoever is in the draw for something like $5000.

``Almost all the top professional fighters are locked into contracts and their managements are not likely to let them risk injury or a loss if there’s not a big profit down the line. Boxing isn’t like golf or tennis where you can have a loss and just move on.’’

For now Joe Goodall’s biggest fight is just to qualify for the Games.

Coming off a big win over 120kg slugger Patrick Mailata in Auckland a week ago, he is desperate to find sparring partners before heading to the Philippines on March 12 for a training camp leading into his the final Olympic qualifying event in Qian’an, China.

Despite being the biggest fish in Oceania boxing, Goodall has to finish in the top three in China to earn a place in Rio.

Originally published as Pros can box at Rio Olympics but Brisabane’s Joe Goodall don’t think they will