John Joe starts down the pro road

Mullingar Olympic silver medallist John Joe Nevin confirmed his long-expected move to the pro boxing game at a press conference in Dublin earlier this evening.

"This is the next step for me. I've done everything I wanted to do in the amateur business," Nevin said, announcing the move. "If I could change the colour of the Olympic medal I would but that's done and now it's time to move on and hopefully bring back a world title to Ireland."

The Cavan Boxing Club pugilist has put pen on paper for a management deal under the combined flags of Philadelphia-based GreenBlood Boxing and London-based firm, Berkley Sports and Media.

GreenBlood's Tom Moran hopes to make the Mullingar Shuffler a star in the United States, where he reckons "the Irish boxing marketplace in untapped".

Moran added that the vision for Nevin's future is that should he box his way to a pro bantamweight world title, he would defend it in Croke Park.

However, Nevin's decision will surely fuel speculation – which first emerged after his silver medal win at London 2012 – that the home of Westmeath GAA, Mullingar's Cusack Park, could be a venue for one of his future professional fights.

Nevin leaves the Team Ireland nest and the amateur game top of the AIBA world bantamweight rankings, as a result of his Olympic silver, and winning gold at the European Amateurs in June.

One of his first targets as a pro, Nevin says, will be to lay the ghost of his Olympic final defeat last year, by meeting and beating England's Luke Campbell, who himself turned professional after winning gold in London.