Venue: Riocentro - Pavilion 6

Medals available: 52

Dates: August 6-21

Dominant nations: The United States and Cuba are the traditional superpowers of Olympic boxing, with 84 gold medals combined, although Great Britain and Ukraine led the way at London 2012

Star names: Julio Cesar La Cruz (Cuba), Nicola Adams (Great Britain), Katie Taylor (Ireland)

Long established as the pinnacle of the sport's amateur wing, the boxing tournament at Rio 2016 is set to look and feel somewhat different to at previous Games.

The rapid progress of London 2012 stars Anthony Joshua and Vasyl Lomachenko from gold medal winners to professional world champions within the latest four-year cycle shows the link between success at the Olympics and glory in boxing's paid ranks remains as strong as when Muhammad Ali finished on top of the podium at Rome 1960 before becoming a global sporting icon.

Nevertheless, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) has stepped up efforts to move its sanctioned competitions closer to professional prizefighting through its World Series of Boxing and AIBA Pro Boxing franchises.

Although president Dr Wu Ching-kuo's outlandish aim of attracting the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Wladimir Klitschko to the Olympics remains a pipe dream, the AIBA pushed through rules allowing professional boxers to compete at Rio 2016 during its Extraordinary Congress in Lausanne on June 1, while other changes are in place aimed at reducing the differences between the sport's two disciplines.

Television audiences and spectators in Rio will see men box without protective headguards for the first time since the Los Angeles 1984 Games, while the computerised punch-count scoring system will be replaced by the 10-point round-by-round method familiar to fans of the professional sport.

Women's boxing made a successful Olympic debut in 2012 and its participants will continue to use headgear during bouts contested over four two-minute rounds.

Men's fights are over three three-minute rounds across 10 weight categories ranging from light-flyweight (49kg) to super-heavyweight (over 91kg).

Medals are up for grabs in three women's categories - flyweight (51kg), lightweight (60kg) and middleweight (75kg).

Losing semi-finalists in each Olympic weight division are both awarded bronze medals.

Ireland's Katie Taylor and Great Britain's Nicola Adams were the stars of the maiden women's boxing tournament and are tipped to defend their titles, while Cuba's three-time world champions Julio Cesar La Cruz and Lazaro Alvarez are chasing elusive Olympic golds.