Dr C K Wu, the redoubtable boss of AIBA, the body that rules international amateur boxing, seems relentless in his desire to give the professional side of the sport a black eye.

He wants to make amateur boxing sufficiently financially attractive to deter the best young Olympic boxers from turning pro after the Games.

He is also adopting, for AIBA's World Series Boxing (WSB), and possibly the Olympics, several professional elements including a ten-point scoring system and abandoning headguards and vests on top, of six-figure prize money.

No harm in that – but what worries me is the continuation of AIBA's ridiculously anachronistic bar on professional coaches like GB's excellent Robert McCracken from the corner.

To do this while embracing other facets of the pro game smacks of hypocrisy.

Moreover, there are disturbing rumours that Dr Wu, who apparently has ambitions to run for the Presidency of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) next year, would like to go even further – and force national boxing associations to sever all ties with professionals, which would mean that McCracken and other paid coaches would not be allowed even to work with boxers in the gym, or professional boxers to spar with amateurs (surely now a misnomer).

AIBA's rules against professional coaches bans the likes of Britain's Rob McCracken from the corner

I hope this is not so, for it would create uproar and anarchy within the sport and suggest that AIBA are getting too big for their boxing boots.

Of course, Dr Wu is entitled to fight to keep the best Olympians in his sport, but that fight must be kept fair.

Turning pro after winning an Olympic medal has always been a natural transition and it would be delusional to think, for instance, that the current super-heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, with his punch and persona, could be swayed by a package to stay amateur that could not come anywhere near the millions he would make by signing with US promoters Golden Boy or Britain's Frank Warren.

It is true that today's economic climate makes turning pro  a less  automatic option for Olympians than in the days of Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Leonard, Wladimir Klitschko and more recently Andre Ward and James DeGale.

But it can still be a good living, usually well above anything even a "professionalised" amateur game can offer.

Not that it always has the happiest of endings.

I have been reflecting on the varying fortunes of three famous fighting Olympians who cashed in their medals – gold, silver and bronze respectively – and made millions yet whose careers, for different reasons have become somewhat blighted.

The golden boy is Audley Harrison, Olympic super-heavyweight champion at Sydney 2000 who surely would have been better off fistically, though not fiscally, by staying amateur, a game he knew inside out.

Audley Harrison's career came crashing down around him during a recent fight with David Price

"Fraudley's" professional career, built on a £1 million ($1.6 million/€1.2 million) BBC cheque, has been a bit of a joke, culminating in the recent 82-second humiliation at the hands of Beijing 2008 bronze medallist David Price – who really looks the business.

When Harrison came into the Liverpool ring we should have guessed the inevitable, unless they were to prevent his knees from knocking!

The silver medallist (at Athens 2004) is Amir Khan, who ascended to the world light-welterweight title but has lost his last two bouts and dented his image by getting himself on the front page of a Sunday tabloid this week following an alleged sex romp in Marbella.

His American fiancée, daughter of a Manhattan multi-millionaire, is said to be less than amused.

And so to the bronze medal winner – Evander Holyfield (Los Angeles 1984), whose tale of misfortune is truly astonishing.

He probably made more money than any other Olympian in history but has blown it all.

Evander Holyfield has probably made more money than any other Olympian in history but has blown it all

"I've still got hope," says Holyfield, who turned 50 a fortnight ago, and finally admitted that his fighting days may be over. But what he doesn't have is money, despite banking £350 million ($560 million/€430 million), half of it from his 57 fights, in his 28-year career.

The "Real Deal", one of the greatest fighters of all time, now flat broke and bankrupt, is having to sell everything except his soul to pay off debts, which amount to over £10 million ($16 million/€12 million).

Virtually his whole life goes under the hammer in a Beverley Hills auction room on November 30 in what is believed to be the world's greatest-ever sale of sporting memorabilia.

Even by boxing's depressing history Holyfield's road to ruin has been spectacular, a fortune squandered on the roulette wheels and blackjack tables of Las Vegas and Atlantic City, business misadventures, crippling lawsuits and lavish spending on a lifestyle that has been as much that of a champion philanderer as pugilist.

He has been divorced three times, has 11 children by five different women and owes half a million dollars for child support – including an 18-year-old daughter Emani, who last month sued him for $372,000 (£230,600/€287,400) in unpaid maintenance. He was been ordered by a Georgia court to pay $2,950 (£1,800/€2,300) a month or go to jail.

On top of this, he has been evicted from his 109-room Atlanta mansion, a sumptuous pad the Beckhams would die for, owing $14 million (£8.7 million/€10.8 million) in mortgage repayments. It was sold at a knockdown price of $7.5 million (£4.7 million/€5.8 million) to keep the banks off his back. He now lives alone in a downtown condominium.

Holyfield's financial woes started in 1999 when his then wife of two years, Janice, filed for divorce after he had publicly admitted to fathering two children out of wedlock.

Evander Holyfield's most prized possession, a 1962 red Chevrolet Corvette speedster, will go under the hammer at Julien's

"These are difficult days," Holyfield acknowledged recently. "Dealing with all the mothers of all my kids – there ain't no winning here man, no winning at all.

"I've had no money to pay lawyers and had to fight on my own in court and that ain't easy."

Holyfield has been declared bankrupt after blowing some $230 million (£140 million/€180 million), earnings from those 57 fights in which his lowest purse was $600,000 (£380,000/€460,000) and biggest $33 million (£21 million/€25 million) – the 1997 bout in which Mike Tyson took a bite out of his ear. His gloves, boots, and robe from that infamous encounter are up for sale at Julien's, the US equivalent of Sotheby's on November 30, alongside jewellery, including numerous Rolex and Cartier watches, furniture, and ring memorabilia including 27 other pairs of gloves, his Olympic bronze medal, world title belts and what he says is his most prized possession, a 1962 red Chevrolet Corvette speedster, the same vintage as himself.

There is no reserve on any item. Everything must go, according to Darren Julien, President of the Californian auction house, who estimates the sale will fetch from $3 million - $5 million (£1.9 million - £3.1 million/€2.3 million - €3.9 million), and jokes that if the piece of ear gnawed off by Tyson was available, that probably would be auctioned off too, such is Holyfield's need for solvency.

The belt presented to Evander Holyfield by The Ring magazine for being named 1997 Boxer of the Year is also up for auction