KATIE TAYLOR HAS tipped John Joe Nevin to follow up on his Olympic silver by becoming one of professional boxing’s next big things.

Taylor and Nevin carried the hopes of a nation at London 2012, but while Bray’s golden girl is still deciding whether to go pro or defend her Olympic gold in Rio, Nevin has already jumped the amateur ranks to pursue his world title dream.

The Mullingar bantamweight signed up with Amir Khan’s Super Fight Promotions last week and hopes to step into the ring for his first professional bout in Manchester in January.

“I think John Joe’s a huge, huge loss to amateur boxing really but obviously he’s a huge gain to the professional game,” Taylor said on Thursday.

“We wish him all the best with it but I think all the lads would have loved for him to stay amateur. Obviously he got a good contract and he has to do what’s right for himself really.

He’s got his Olympic medal now and as he said before, that was his dream that he wanted to go on to win a world professional title. We’ll be his biggest supporters.

She added: “He’s obviously amazing, he’s the most talented boxer we have in the team.

“He’s got the right style for it and he’s going to go on and do great things I think.”

Asked if she would miss him as a sparring partner in training, Taylor laughed: “Heartbroken.”

“Not really because I couldn’t lay glove on him some days. I think he’s the boxer that everyone hates sparring.

“When he’s on form, nobody can land a punch on him.”