After 112 years of amateur competition, professional boxers are fighting in the Olympics.All three of them.The International Boxing Associations high-profile scheme to entice prominent pros to compete in Rio de Janeiro hasnt worked.Instead of the star-studded tournament many apparently wanted, only a trio of traditional pros accepted the offer to fight for gold medals in Brazil. Only hardcore boxing fans have ever heard of them: Cameroons Hassan NDam, Thailands Amnat Ruenroeng and Italys Carmine Tommasone.The Rio tournament will be more notable for what the men arent wearing. AIBA is removing headguards for male Olympic fighters for the first time since 1980.The real stars again could be the women, who are back for their second Olympics after providing the best moments in London.Here are some more things to know when the 286-person tournament begins Aug. 6:REIGNING CHAMPSAll three gold medal winners from the inaugural womens boxing tournament in London are back to attempt to defend their titles. Britains Nicola Adams, Irelands Katie Taylor and American middleweight Claressa Shields all stuck with their sport, which has grown rapidly in prominence and quality since womens boxing was added to the Olympic program. In fact, only the dominant Shields is a strong favorite to repeat, given the improved competition at flyweight and lightweight.CAN YOU SEE MEAIBA announced its plan to remove Olympic headgear from the men three years ago, citing research claiming the bulky pads actually cause more concussions than they prevent. The quality of their science is considered dubious by many, but many fighters prefer to compete without the gear, and the sport is undeniably more telegenic when fans can see the fighters faces.UNKINDEST CUTThe biggest problem with the headgear removal is likely to be cuts, which will develop more frequently without the facial protection. Qualifying tournaments have been filled with fighters unable to continue to their next bout after getting cut, and Olympic stars seem likely to meet the same fate.BIG NAMESAIBA has tried for years to become a player in international professional boxing under President Wu Ching-Kuo, but it has succeeded only in nations without an established pro boxing culture. The Olympic-style sports growth in former Soviet republics will be obvious in Rio, where Kazakhstan (12 fighters), Azerbaijan (11), Uzbekistan (11) and Russia (11) will be well-represented along with the likes of Britain (12) and China (11). Cuba (10) has a fighter in every mens weight class, but no women.EVEN THE SCOREAnother big change for Rio is the scoring system, which is no longer based on punch-counting. Fighters will be judged on the 10-point must system traditionally used in pro boxing, with the final scores of each judge reduced to a single number. The final scores in the fights will be announced as 3-0 or 2-1. Unlike the headgear change, the move away from reviled punch-scoring has been greeted with broad approval. Still, it probably wont stop more than half of the losing fighters from claiming they were robbed, just as they do in every Olympic-style boxing tournament.YOUNG AMERICANSThe U.S. team is the historic leader in total Olympic boxing medals and golds, but the Americans are sending just eight fighters to Rio after four men and one woman failed to secure spots through qualifying tournaments. The team might be small, but Shields and lightweight Mikaela Mayer are both medal contenders. The U.S. men didnt win a single medal in London, but touted bantamweight Shakur Stevenson has a great shot to end that drought in Rio.THE GREATESTYoure not seeing things on the schedule: Thats Muhammad Ali competing in Rio. The 20-year-old British flyweight with the conspicuous name is among the medal favorites after training in the same gym as Amir Khan, the English silver medalist in Athens.HES BACKFormer Russian world champion Albert Selimov is best known for losing his first fight in Beijing to Ukraines Vasyl Lomachenko, the two-time gold medalist whose amateur legend truly began with that masterful performance. While Lomachenko reigns as a professional world champion eight years later, Selimov is back at the Olympics, fighting for Azerbaijan as a naturalized citizen. He is a favorite for a medal at lightweight.WATCH OUTCuba, another traditional world power, could return to prominence in Rio after a down Olympic cycle in London. Among its several strong medal contenders are three-time amateur light heavyweight world champion Julio Cesar La Cruz; London flyweight gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez, now fighting at bantamweight; and lightweight Lazaro Alvarez, a three-time world champion in two classes. Emmitt Smith Cowboys Jersey . It might not have mattered. While the Dodgers are preparing for the playoffs, the Padres showed their future has promise behind two rookies. Daryl Johnston Jersey .com) - The Pittsburgh Penguins placed forward James Neal on injured reserve Tuesday. http://www.cowboysrookieproshop.com/Cowboys-Tony-Dorsett-Jersey/ . -- Bobby Ryan helped the U. Terrell Owens Jersey . The Vikings announced Thursday that Priefer will be one of seven holdovers from the previous staff, along with offensive line coach Jeff Davidson, wide receivers coach George Stewart and others. Norv Turner will mark his 30th year of coaching in the NFL as the offensive co-ordinator, as widely reported for weeks, and George Edwards will be the defensive co-ordinator. Terrell Owens Womens Jersey . Luis Suarezs double powered Liverpool to a 4-0 victory over Fulham, and Southampton easily overcame Hull 4-1 to continue the south coast clubs impressive start to the season. Liverpool and Southampton sent Chelsea down to fourth place as the west London club was held to 2-2 at home. TORONTO -- Gael Monfils of France defeated Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-3, 6-3 and fifth seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic beat Croatias Borna Coric 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 at the Rogers Cup on Tuesday.Despite dropping his first set, Berdych said that he wasnt concerned because it was an early break.I mean it was by my mistakes and then it was just basically trying to get used to the conditions because they were quite different, the world No. 8 said.I was just really trying to be patient with myself. Trying also to look for the opportunities. And thats what paid off.Tournament No. 2 seed Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland faced Russian Mikhail Youzhny in the late Tuesday match.Taiwans Yen-Hsun Lu admits hes a bit nervous about facing hometown star Milos Raonic on Wednesday, but hes banking on the fourth-seeded Canadian having a few butterflies too.Lu, who advanced to the second round on Tuesday with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Alexander Zverev of Germany, will have few backers among the expected capacity crowd at the 12,500-seat Aviva Centre.All the spectators against you is very tough, Lu said. But, I mean, this is what he should get because he comes from the country and hes one of the best players right now.Later Tuesday, Canadas Vasek Pospisil defeated Jeremy Chardy in first-round action after the Frenchman retired with a right foot injury.Chardy started to favor his foot after Pospisil went up 30-0 in the first game of the second set. Chardy called for the trainer and waited several minutes before deciding that he couldnt go on.Pospisil won the first set 7-6 (3). The Vancouver product will face Monfils in the second round.Raonic, who grew up in the Toronto suburb of Thornhill, will be playing his first match since the Wimbledon mens final where he lost to Andy Murray.Lu says that in order to beat the Canadian, he will have to have a strong service game, but hes also hoping to exploit any nerves that Raonic may have as he returns home.If I can try to make more balls into the court to play, I have a little bit better chance, he said. I have to focus on my service game to stay with him and to maybe give him a little bitt of pressure and waiting for him maybe a little bit getting nervous from the tensions and give me a chance.ddddddddddddRaonic, who had a bye in the first round of the Rogers Cup, is 2-0 against the 32-year-old Lu, with his last victory coming in 2014 in Monte Carlo. Lu said hes noticed a lot of improvement in Raonics game recently.He getting more stable from the baseline, Lu said. He plays all different kind of game. He can come in, hes making (things) difficult.In mens doubles action, Vancouvers Philip Bester and Adil Shamasdin of Toronto got past world No. 1 singles player Novak Djokovic and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia 7-5, 4-6, 10-2.Tied at 30-30 in the second set, Bester double-faulted to give the Serbs break point before double faulting again to give Djokovic and Zimonjic the set.I wanted to keep things interesting for the crowd, Bester joked. Thats just sport, thats tennis, that kind of stuff happens to me, it happens to everybody and as soon as we went to the change-over, the most important thing for me personally was to have a short memory about it and also to communicate with Adil that I was ready to move on to the tiebreaker.Bester and Shamasdin will next play South Africas Raven Klaasen and American Rajeev Ram.Lu, ranked 70th in the world, improved to 3-3 on the ATP World Tour circuit this season with his victory over Zverev. He made headlines at Wimbledon in 2010 when he beat American Andy Roddick in an epic five-set thriller.The Taiwanese player was ousted in the first round of the Rogers Cup last year by Pospisil.After right elbow surgery delayed the start of his season, hes gone on to lose to Djokovic in the first round of Roland Garros and Murray in the second round of Wimbledon.Lu says hell have to stop Raonics weapon -- his serve -- if hes going to be successful on center court against the world No. 7.Hes one of the best players right now, Lu said. For me, I really need to stay very strong in my serve and hope I can always catch him and give him some pressure. ' ' '