Olympic boxing gold medalist Claressa Shields turning pro

There will be no third gold medal for Claressa Shields. The only American to win a boxing gold medal since Andre Ward in 2004 is turning professional and will make her pro debut on Nov. 19 in Las Vegas on the undercard of the Ward-Sergey Kovalev pay-per-view show.

Shields, 21, will face the always tough “opponent to be named later” in a four-round middleweight bout.

She won her first Olympic gold medal as a high school senior, winning the middleweight division at the 2012 Games in London, the first time women were allowed to compete in Olympic boxing.

She was the No. 1 seed in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, and despite the pressure that was put on her as one of the few defending gold medalists, she easily romped to victory again.

Team USA coach Billy Walsh hoped that Shields, who is the only American (male or female) to win back-to-back gold medals, would return and make a run at a third in 2020 in Tokyo.

But Shields signed a one-fight deal with Roc Nation and will fight on the Ward-Kovalev card.

“After working hard for so many years and having the honor to represent my country at two Olympic Games, I am thrilled to take the next big step in my career, fighting professionally and leading the rise of women’s boxing world-wide,” Shields said in a statement. “There is no better place to begin the journey than to join the biggest fight of the year, Kovalev vs. Ward, and to fight alongside my idol and fellow U.S. Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward. I can’t wait to entertain the fans on Nov. 19!”

Unlike women’s mixed martial arts, which is equally as popular as men’s MMA, women’s boxing does not have a wide following in the professional ranks. Most promoters are unwilling to put women in prominent spots on their shows and the two major premium cable networks, HBO and Showtime, have not shown a women’s fight in years.

That leads to an uncertain future as a pro for Shields, who hopes that she can help turn that around.

There aren’t a lot of quality women her size, either, but Walsh believes Shields has exceptional talent.

Walsh spoke to Yahoo Sports last week before the news broke that Shields was going professional. He was hopeful she’d return to his Olympic program and make a bid to become just the fourth boxer ever to win a gold medal in three consecutive Games. Only Laszlo Papp of Hungary and Cuban heavyweights Teofilo Stevenson and Felix Savon have done that.

“Without a doubt, she has the talent,” Walsh said. “She’s very dominant. And she’s at her best on the biggest occasions. The bigger the challenge, the better she is. I’ve seen her in sparring, even with some of the guys, and she is so competitive, she won’t let anyone beat her. She has the tools to match that [competitiveness]. She’s a dog. She just wants to win and won’t accept anything else. She has a fantastic drive inside of her.”