Superstar Manny Pacquiao’s wanted to fight at the Rio Games next year but does not qualify to be among the first professionals to compete at an Olympics, the head of boxing’s governing body said.
Wu Ching-Kuo, president of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) said the Filipino, who takes on Floyd Mayweather on May 2 in a record-breaking welterweight title fight, has been in too many professional fights.
“He (Pacquiao) always dreamed of going to the Olympics, but now he can’t because he did more than 20 professional fights,” Wu told AFP on the sidelines of the SportAccord convention in Sochi, Russia.
The AIBA has raised the age limit for Olympic fighters from 34 to 40, which would let in Pacquiao who is now 36. It is also letting professional boxers who join the AIBA Pro Boxing (APB) contest try to win qualification for the Olympics. Rio will be the first time professional boxers will take part at the Olympics.
But only fighters who have been in fewer than than 20 professional bouts can join the APB.
Pacquiao was in the Philippine national amateur team for two years in the 1990s but turned professional at the age of 16.
Mayweather, 38, took part in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics when he was beaten in a controversial decision ruling to Bulgaria’s Serafim Todorov in the semi-final. That was the last time Mayweather was beaten in the ring.