An overwhelming vote by the sport's governing body, known as AIBA, on Wednesday allows any boxer to try to qualify next month and earn selection for their national team.
But AIBA's plan has been criticised across the professional ranks as a move toward dangerous mismatches between established boxers and inexperienced amateurs.
"At the moment it is difficult to anticipate (how many), but there will be some who want to get qualification," AIBA President CK Wu said after a special meeting of member federations.
The move is expected to be a moot point for Australian professionals, Boxing Australia president Ted Tanner, an AIBA vice-president, telling News Corp in March that our pro boxers couldn't be selected if the move was brought in.
"It's irrelevant to Australia this year, he said.
"The Olympic team is selected by the Australian Olympic Committee and we had to reach an agreement with the AOC last year on our nomination criteria, and there's no provision for professional boxers who have competed in non-AIBA bouts.
"We have an obligation to the boxing community who have committed to this process."
Although Manny Pacquiao had been slated to be a superstar attraction in Rio, he decided last week to focus on his political career after being elected a senator in the Philippines.
Of 88 federations who came to Lausanne for the single-issue meeting, 84 approved the rule change less than 10 weeks before the first bouts in Rio. The other four members abstained, AIBA said.
A total of 26 entry places can be earned at an Olympic qualifying tournament in Venezuela next month, AIBA said.
Wu has consistently pushed to extend AIBA's influence over professional boxing, and already relaxed rules to allow paid fighters to compete at the Olympics.
In 2013, eligibility for Rio was given to boxers who are signed to AIBA-run professional tournaments.
It is unclear how many professional fighters would be attracted by an Olympic tournament - fighting up to five times over two weeks and going unpaid.
Some would also likely not meet the demands of already being in a testing regime with their national federation approved by the World Anti-Doing Agency.
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