“Boxing is different from rowing and sailing,” Terry Edwards said. “Rowers go on to be lawyers and doctors. I have no one who is going to be a lawyer - they might need one, but that's another matter.” That is the problem facing Team GB's head coach as he tries to steer his magnificent eight away from the bright lights and dollar signs.

Edwards, though, is confident that Britain's Olympic boxers will not desert to the professional ranks after Beijing. From Frankie Gavin, the lightweight who won gold at the World Championships last year and admits that boxing saved him from prison, to Billy Joe Saunders, the traveller from bare-knuckle fighting stock, the British team brim with talent and PR dreams. But Edwards believes that his amateurs can lead better lives than those in the paid ranks and called on industry and private backers to sponsor his charges to ensure that they are not lost to London 2012.

“If someone offers them £1million [to turn pro] I can't do that, but it's not all about money,” Edwards, a veteran of two Olympics, said. “Every one of these lads says they want to compete in London. Of all the Olympics I've been to, the fact is 2012 will be offering enormous prospects. Take Frankie Gavin. If he wins a gold medal and stays on and defends it in London he'd be a superstar and his stock would rise three, four or even five-fold.”

With the occasional exception such as Sugar Ray Leonard, an Olympic and professional legend, boxers ply their trade because they have to. As Edwards says, law school rarely beckons. So Amir Khan, after flirting with soundbites about going for gold in Beijing after his silver in Athens, turned professional. So did Leonard after his triumph in 1976. Edwards, however, believes that the carrot of London and a decent living can prevent this year's crop going the same way.

Backed by UK Sport, each of his boxers receives about £75,000 for travel costs, medical back-up and other expenses. As amateurs, they cannot receive prize-money, but there are sponsorship deals to compensate. “Some of my boxers probably get more than a professional,” Edwards said. “Not many pro boxers I know have a package where they can go into a BUPA hospital if they are injured. When pros are injured and not boxing, they don't get paid.”

Macau, the Las Vegas of the East, with its casinos, false volcano and mock St Mark's Square, complete with gondolas, is a fitting place to knock the professional game's lures. “I can think of many talented boxers who turned pro far too early,” Edwards said. “With the UK Sport money, we're able to keep them much longer so they can realise that potential and their dream of putting on the gloves at an Olympic Games.”

The target Edwards has set his team is two medals, although, when reminded that Khan had suggested that all eight could stand on the podium, he said: “I think he is a good judge and I wouldn't disagree.” The additional funding from UK Sport has enabled Edwards to take his boxers abroad to the extent, he says, that they are now feared as much as the Cubans and the Russians in the Olympics' open draw.

Gavin has the highest profile, but has admitted to weight problems in the past. “Frankie is one of the most accomplished boxers we've ever produced in Britain,” Edwards said. “The idea in amateur boxing is to get to the top of your weight [60kg for Gavin] and I'd be lying if I said some of my boxers had not had difficulties. Frankie Gavin is no different, but Frankie Gavin will make the weight, that's for sure.”

The likes of Gavin are vying for the right to join only four men who have won gold for Britain in Olympic boxing. Before Audley Harrison in 2000, you had to go back to Chris Finnegan, 40 years ago, for another winner. Edwards will be in the corner for every bout. “Once upon a time, British teams showed their opponents too much respect and fear,” he said. “Now we show them respect and fear no one.”