No headgear, new scoring, 3 pros headline Olympic boxing (The Associated Press) After 112 years of amateur competition, the Olympics are welcoming professional boxers. The International Boxing Association's high-profile plan to entice prominent pros to Rio de Janeiro didn't work, leaving the sport without the star-studded tournament many apparently wanted. Only a trio of traditional pros … [Read more...]

Track program at Rio Olympics wide open after UK dominance (The Associated Press) Former Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, the reigning Olympic time trial gold medalist, has largely retired from road racing and will be part of the British men's pursuit squad aiming to repeat its gold from four years ago in London. The sprint specialist decided the road course in Rio would be too … [Read more...]

US boxer Shakur Stevenson chases childhood dream to Olympics (The Associated Press) Shakur Stevenson started throwing punches shortly after he could walk. ''Most people say they want to become a world champion, but he's actually been obsessed and wanting to win a gold medal his entire boxing career,'' said his grandfather, Wali Moses. ''And now that he's reached the epitome of his career … [Read more...]

Brook promises to 'shock the world' when he fights Golovkin (The Associated Press) British boxer Kell Brook promises to ''shock the world'' when the IBF welterweight champion jumps two weight classes to fight middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin. The Sept. 10 fight is at the 02 Arena in London. ''I always seem to do enough, and I always find a way to win ... I'm going to shock the … [Read more...]

Split widens between IOC and anti-doping leaders over Russia (Yahoo Sports) The World Anti-Doping Agency fired back on Monday, a day after IOC President Thomas Bach suggested the agency was to blame for the last-minute chaos over the participation of Russian athletes in the Rio de Janeiro Games. Bach said the agency should have acted sooner on evidence of state-sponsored doping rather than … [Read more...]

WADA president: Russian revelations had to be published (Yahoo Sports) RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Leaders of the World Anti-Doping Agency took a swipe back at IOC president Thomas Bach, saying there was no choice but to publish results from the independent investigation into Russian doping in the lead-up to the Olympics. … [Read more...]

India wrestler cleared of doping charges; hopes to go to Rio (Yahoo Sports) India's anti-doping agency dropped charges against wrestler Narsingh Yadav on Monday, clearing the way for him to travel to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Navin Agarwal, the head of India's anti-doping agency, said the body decided the wrestler had been a victim of sabotage and exonerated him of all doping charges. … [Read more...]

Russia teams for Rio to be decided by Aug 2: R-Sport cites minister (Reuters) MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Monday all decisions about the participation of Russian sportspeople at the Rio Olympics would be made by Tuesday, R-Sport news agency reported. The International Olympic Committee said on Saturday it would have the final say on which Russian athletes … [Read more...]

Cycling-World champion Sagan to join Bora-Hansgrohe from 2017 (Reuters) World champion Peter Sagan has signed a three-year deal to join German team Bora-Hansgrohe from Russian outfit Tinkoff, starting in 2017, his new team said on Monday. The 26-year-old Slovak, who has been with Tinkoff since 2015, won the points leader's green jersey for a fifth straight year in last month's Tour de … [Read more...]

World champion Sagan to join Bora-Hansgrohe from 2017 (Reuters) (Reuters) - World champion Peter Sagan has signed a three-year deal to join German team Bora-Hansgrohe from Russian outfit Tinkoff, starting in 2017, his new team said on Monday. The 26-year-old Slovak, who has been with Tinkoff since 2015, won the points leader's green jersey for a fifth straight year in last month's Tour de … [Read more...]