Laila Ali participated in the sport of professional boxing.
Max Baer competed in the sport of professional boxing.
Certainly- The sport was very popular in the twenties and thirties. I am not aware of any bans. Belgium outlawed professional boxing in , I guess the past thirty years or so-form the seventies. Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney,and others flourished in the haevyweight period as did Georges Carpentier (French boxer)
Cindy Phillips is a professional bodybuilder.
jack dempsey played in swimmming
A synonym for the sport of curling would be weight lifting. Weight lifting is practiced as an amateur, professional, or Olympic sport and people around the world participate.
Heavyweight Boxing.
Magic Johnson was a professional basketball player. He was a member of the Los Angeles Lakers for his entire career.
Benedict Saul McCarthy, also known as Benni McCarthy is an association football player.
They participate to prevent any cheating in the game of sport
The moment you're paid to participate you are no longer an amateur. So if an amateur sport, say kickball, wanted to become professional, they would need to establish a league that paid their players.
There has been a clear distinction between men and women and the sports in which they participate. The national will does not seem to desire a coed or mixed gender professional team sport.