Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/647574
21 Sport maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 2 MARCH 2016 BOXING SNOOKER Rio 2016 will have pro boxers, says AIBA boss PROFESSIONAL fighters will feature at the 2016 Rio de Ja- neiro Olympics as long as a con- stitutional change goes through in June, the president of the in- ternational boxing federation AIBA said on Tuesday. Last month 's decision by AIBA to begin procedures to open the door for pro boxers to com- pete alongside amateurs at the Games means the sport could get increased exposure with po- tentially big-name fighters tak- ing part. The move, though, has also earned a lot of criticism as many argue it would be unfair to the thousands of amateurs who have trained for the Games for years and now have to possibly make way for the pros. "Professional boxers will be at Rio. I don't know how many but they will be," AIBA boss Ching- Kuo Wu said. "But they will have to go through the same procedures as everyone else. "What we have to do is just amend the constitution of AI- BA and we will do that at an extraordinary congress in June. The constitution is the only thing blocking this at the mo- ment." Boxers qualif y for the Games in a series of regional events, many starting later this month. Wu said after the constitution- al amendment goes through, professionals could book their tickets for Rio at the final world Olympic qualif ying tournament in Azerbaijan in mid-June. There are doubts, however, over whether professional world champions would want to jeop- ardise their careers by taking part in three-round contests that bear little resemblance to paid bouts. "Everyone will need to qualif y, they will need to be picked by their own federations so there are things that need to happen first. They don't get in just like that," Wu said. "What AIBA wants to do is open the door for profession- als. Boxing is probably the only sport in the Olympics not repre- sented by pros." Under Wu's leadership, AIBA set up the semi-professional World Series Boxing in 2011 in which fighters earned money competing for city-based teams. He also helped introduce women's boxing to the Olympics in London four years ago. Amateur boxing has had its share of Olympic champions who have gone on to become top professionals, among them Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Vladimir Klitschko. The Rio Games will be held in August. Floyd rules out Olympic return FLOYD Mayweather will not be tempted by the lure of Olympic gold and insists he has no plans to return to the ring after retiring last September. The former pound-for-pound king walked away from the ring with an unblemished 49-0 record following his points win over An- dre Berto. He has repeatedly insisted he has no plans on making a comeback and on Monday made it clear a ring return was not on the cards, much less for the new Olympic oppor- tunity which could be open to pro fighters. "Absolutely not," said Mayweath- er, who won bronze at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, when asked about a boxing return. "For my body to recover from all my fights will be for the rest of my life. I'm truly blessed to have been fighting for so much of my life." "I had a great run. Ain't no more for this body to heal but rest." The American figures by the time he would be ready to try and sur- pass the 49-0 mark he shares with the late Hall of Fame legend Rocky Marciano, "the only record in box- ing I would be looking at is old age". Mayweather says instead he is now happy to watch the young fighters he helps advise and pro- mote challenge his feats. "I want these guys to break my records," Mayweather added. "I was able to retire from the sport with all my faculties. I did not let the sport retire me." Floyd Mayweather will not return to boxing Ronnie O'Sullivan drawn against Michael Holt in final major appearance before World Championship RONNIE O'Sullivan faces Mi- chael Holt on the opening day of the World Grand Prix in what is likely to be his final competitive tournament appearance before the World Championship at the Crucible next month. The Masters champion quali- fied for the event by winning the Welsh Open last week in a field which is determined by ranking points collected from the start of the season until last week 's Gdynia Open in Poland won by Mark Selby with a 4-1 final suc- cess against Martin Gould. O'Sullivan has not qualified for the Players Championship (Mar 22-27) in Manchester and did not enter the China Open (Mar 28-Apr 3) in Beijing. He begins his quest for a sixth world title with the World Championship (Apr 16-May 2) ending the season in Sheffield. World Grand Prix defending champion Judd Trump - who beat O'Sullivan 10-7 in last year's final - will face former world champion Mark Williams in the opening round next Wednesday in Venue Cymru in Llandudno. Trump won the final five frames from trailing 7-5 against O'Sullivan to pick up the £100,000 cheque a year ago. O'Sullivan opens up on Tues- day night against Holt. All matches are over the best of seven frames until the best-of-11 semi-finals and the best-of-19 frame final. The World Grand Prix runs from March 8 to 13. World Grand Prix first round draw John Higgins v Stephen Maguire Matthew Selt v Ryan Day Judd Trump v Mark Williams David Gilbert v Stuart Bingham Mark Selby v Tom Ford Luca Brecel v Ali Carter Joe Perry v Barry Hawkins Kyren Wilson v Jamie Jones Martin Gould v Tian Pengfei Shaun Murphy v Michael White Ronnie O'Sullivan v Michael Holt Liang Wenbo v Graeme Dott Mark Allen v David Grace Marco Fu v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Ben Woollaston v Ding Junhui Neil Robertson v Peter Ebdon Ronnie O'Sullivan