Beaten professionally, being somewhat short (8,3,4)
I believe the answer is:
strapped for cash
'short' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'beaten professionally being somewhat' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'beaten' could be 'strapped' (strapping is a kind of beating) and 'strapped' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for strapped for cash that I've seen before include "Bust" , "not rolling in it" , "very short of money?" , "Hard up" , "as an S & M prostitute?" .)