WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman has repeatedly condemned AIBA's plans for Rio

The World Boxing Council will ban for two years any of its champions or top 15-rated fighters who decide to box at this summer’s Olympic Games.

In February, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman told Sky Sports News HQ that the International Boxing Association's (AIBA) proposals to allow professionals to compete at Rio 2016 were "horrible" and "dangerous".

AIBA voted on Wednesday to make a rule change allowing professionals to participate in Rio, with 95 per cent of member federations in favour. A total of 26 places in the Rio tournament will be made available at a qualifying event in Venezuela next month.

But the move has been strongly condemned by the WBC, which has expressed serious concerns over the safety of boxers taking part in the competition.

"The WBC has expressed its opinion with total opposition towards AIBA's decision to allow professional boxers to fight amateur boxers during the Olympic Games in Rio 2016," a statement on the governing body's website read.

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"The WBC has voiced the opinion of the majority in the boxing community from all over the world. There are too many unanswered questions, the competition format and standards are not clear and the risks towards the fighters' safety are tremendous.

"Boxing is one of the founding sports of the Ancient Olympic Games in Greece and modern boxing has been known to be divided into amateur boxing and professional boxing. AIBA is acting with an evident conflict of interest by threatening this structure by being a promoter, manager, regulator and governing entity who wants to have amateur boxers fight professional boxers in a scenario where severe mismatches could result in tragedies.

"To have an amateur boxer vs a professional boxer is like having a marathon runner vs a sprint 100-metre runner, both are runners but they compete in different sports and disciplines.

"Basketball, tennis, soccer and other sports have "pros vs amateurs" in Olympics, the difference is that in boxing, there are no goals, baskets or points, "YOU DONT PLAY BOXING". Boxing is a combat sport and if the level of opposition is not properly matched it can be very dangerous.

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"Professional boxing is structured by levels of competition, four-round fighters, six-round, eight-round, 10-round and eventually championship fights for 12 rounds. One can only hope that AIBA will filter which professionals will participate in Rio.

"The WBC has taken a stance and decided that any WBC champion and top-15 rated in our rankings is forbidden to participate until clear guidelines and safety measures are in place. If they do they will be banned from the WBC for two years."

Britain's latest world champion Tony Bellew joined Sky Sports pundit Johnny Nelson in slamming AIBA's decision but two-time world super-lightweight champion Amir Khan welcomed the vote and said he would be prepared to box for Pakistan in Rio, despite having already won a silver medal for Great Britain at the 2004 Games in Athens.