Thursday 18 May 2017 15:51, UK
Savannah Marshall has joined the professional ranks of boxing and signed up with Floyd Mayweather's fighting stable.
The former world amateur champion, supported by Sky as one of their Academy Sports Scholars since the London Games, described the venture as "a dream come true".
Mayweather Promotions revealed the deal at a press conference in London on Thursday afternoon where his IBF world super-featherweight champion Gervonta Davis will defend his title this weekend against Britain's Liam Walsh.
Marshall, 25, from Hartlepool, was also Commonwealth champion in 2014 and missed out on a podium spot in Brazil in the summer after losing to her Dutch nemesis Nouchka Fontijn in the middleweight quarter-final.
Women's boxing is hugely on the rise with Marshall following in the footsteps of Nicola Adams and Irish legend Katie Taylor, who is represented by British promoter Eddie Hearn on Sky Sports.
Nicknamed the 'Silent Assassin', Marshall is the second female fighter to sign with Mayweather, joining junior middleweight LaTondria Jones.
Tony Lester, head of the Sky Scholarships, said: "This is a new and thrilling chapter for Savannah and I'm very very excited for her.
"The professional ranks will be a huge challenge and it will be tough taking herself away to the USA but I'm confident she can succeed if she gives it everything and uses all the talent she possesses.
"I've seen her develop and mature as an individual inside and outside of the ring during her time on the Sky Academy Sports Scholarship scheme and I'd like to wish her all the very best of luck with her new adventures."
Marshall, who used to train in Sheffield with the GB boxing team, took time away from the ring after the Olympics and admitted that 2017 would be all about finding herself.
"This is a new year, it's a new start, I've got a new outlook and I'm fired up for boxing," she told Sky Sports in January.
"I'm weighing up my options and I'm just very excited about the future. Boxing has made me who I am and whenever I go back to my home club in Hartlepool and do sparring, I just love it. I still always get butterflies inside my stomach."
Adam Smith, head of Sky Sports Boxing, said: "Savannah was one of our Academy Sports Scholars and we're very proud as she makes the switch from a successful amateur career to the professional ranks.
"She will be based in Las Vegas now with Mayweather Promotions and we hope to catch up with her soon when we head back there for Andre Ward's rematch with Sergey Kovalev next month."
