In addition to the above, I think it kind of depends on the dogs themselves. Some dogs just play much rougher than others.
My malamute mix and her sister will get extremely loud and growly during play, grab each others necks and shake back and forth, snap at each other etc.. But neither of them take offense to the behavior. They've never gotten in a fight before. If one becomes a bit rough the other will yelp in pain which temporarily stops play. The one that got too rough will lick the other on the head and then they'll resume play again. As long as your dogs stayed with their mother and litter for an appropriate amount of time to learn proper play and socialization with other dogs, this should be about how it goes.
If one dog yelps in pain and the other keeps going, then you should stop the play yourself temporarily. Eventually if puppy becomes too rough and won't catch on the adult will correct him, like the others said.
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1. The older boxer will look like he's grabbing a toy and when the puppy comes near him, he starts to growl (no hackles up) and or bark in a high-pitched voice (while his head is still down near the toy).
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As far as the above, it's kind of hard to determine based on description whether the older dog is trying to elicit the younger to play with the toy with him, or guarding the toy.
I'd say supervise this behavior and if the older dog seems to actually start to become possessive (growling with hackles up, trying to keep the toy away from puppy aggressively, running away with toy with head down and growling, or blocking the toy with objects (like standing in the corner) so the puppy can't get to it and growling etc.) then the toy needs to be removed from the situation. Make sure not to take the toy away from the adult and give it to the puppy since this can make possessive behavior worse, simply remove the toy altogether.
Unfortunately some dogs are so possessive they cannot be left around other dogs with toys present, or sometimes it's just one specific toy or type of toy that elicits the response. Or they may only behave this way with the toy when in a certain place, like in the house. Like with my Bheka, there's a specific type of sheep toy that she'll guard ferociously from other dogs (she will give it to me willingly...if the dog becomes protective of the item with YOU that's more of a worry), so I only let her have that by herself, but all other toys she behaves normally with.