Several professional boxers have lost bouts to young amateurs in the recent Olympic qualifying tournament in Venezuela and have also been stripped of their pro rankings at the same time. In the lightweight qualifying final, former IBF Flyweight Champion Amnat Ruenroeng of Thailand was stopped by Mexico’s 21-year-old Lindolfo Delgado Garza. Ruenroeng has a pro record of 17-1 with 5 Kos and is currently ranked number eight by the WBO at flyweight and number nine by the WBC. The Thai boxer, who was world champion just six weeks ago, was knocked out in the second round by Garza. However, luck was on Ruenroeng’s side as earlier wins in the qualifying tournament meant he had already earned a berth to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Also, in the light heavyweight qualifying final match, Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, who is a former WBO Interim Middleweight Titleholder with a record of 33-2 with 19 Kos, was beaten by a 23-year-old Colombian amateur named Juan Carlos Carrillo. Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam of Cameroon is currently ranked number six by the WBC and number eight by the WBO in the middleweight division but he lost by a unanimous decision of 30-27 in the three-round contest. But like Ruenroeng, N’Dam N’Jikam, who now fights out of France has also earned a spot in the Olympics. Carrillo has now beaten two pros in the tournament as he knocked out Petar Maukovic of Serbia in the first round of their encounter just four days earlier. The previously undefeated Maukovic entered the fight with a pro record of 14-0 with 13 Kos.

A professional Italian lightweight named Massimiliano Ballisai also lost a qualifying bout as he was beaten by a 23-year-old from Qatar by scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26. Ballisai has a 20-3 pro record with 12 Kos to his name, but it didn’t help him in his defeat to Thulasi Qattharumalingam. The embarrassment doesn’t end there though for the professional boxers as 40-year-old Ladislav Kutil of the Czech Republic who has a record of 19-4 with 5 Kos lost a unanimous 30-27 light heavyweight decision to Poland’s Mateusz Jerzy Tryc. The first pro to lose in the qualifying event was middleweight Geard Ajetovic of Serbia (28-15-1, 14 Kos) as the 35-year-old lost a close decision to 23-year-old Raul Sanchez Marte of the Dominican Republic. Ajetovic previously fought in the 2000 Olympics Games in Sydney, Australia for Yugoslavia.

As well as losing their bouts to amateurs, any pro boxer who takes part in the Olympics will have his current rankings stripped from him for a year by both the IBF and WBC and the boxer’s will also be suspended from fighting for those professional organizations. The IBF has already dropped Amnat Ruenroeng and N’Dam N’Jikam from their rankings for violating the organization’s rules. There was a lot of debating and arguing going on earlier in the year when it was announced that pros could boxing the Olympics as most critics said the amateurs could get hurt. However, things certainly haven’t turned out that way up to now.