Cindy Ngamba, star of Olympic refugee team, to turn professional: ‘I see myself winning a world title very soon’

Cindy Ngamba, the star of the refugee team at the Paris Olympics this summer, will turn professional.

Ngamba became the first refugee athlete in history to win an Olympic medal when she secured middleweight bronze at Roland Garros.

She told Sky Sports that she will now turn professional.

“100 per cent I’ll be turning professional. I hope to have my debut hopefully soon,” she told Sky Sports.

“My goal for many, many years has been to go to the Olympics and win a medal.

“Now that I’ve achieved my goal and my dream,” Ngamba continued, “the world is my oyster. That was just one part of my career, a chapter in my journey. I have other goals and aims coming very soon.”

Ngamba could well have gone further at the Games. Her semi-final defeat to Panama’s Atheyna Bylon, whom Ngamba had beaten previously this year, was contentious. The bout came down to the third round, in which Bylon, under pressure, was docked a point for holding. Yet the judges still awarded the Panamanian that third round which tipped the result to Bylon.

“It did hurt when I lost,” Ngamba said. “But I know that I won that fight.

“I’ve been in the ring with the best of the best, and I’ve beaten them.”

She has also frequently shared the ring in training with professional world champions, regularly sparring Lauren Price, Natasha Jonas, Savannah Marshall and Chantelle Cameron.

“All of them have praised me and I’ve always praised them from the very start. I see myself winning a world title very soon,” Ngamba said. “Obviously I have to get in and get a couple of fights and get the experience without doubt.

“You actually have to have a feel of what it’s all about first of all and then hopefully get my shot for a world title and get in the ring with the best of the best and show what I’m capable of.”

She explained: “Every boxer has their own style. I’m good with my feet. I have a good head movement. I measure my distance well. I have great dynamic movement, I move at angles and I make my opponents miss and I make them pay.

“I can step up the level and decrease the level when it’s needed, the pressure. I can box on my back foot. I can box on my front foot. I can switch stances, I can box southpaw and I can box orthodox.

“Whatever opponent I get in the ring with, I’m always able to adapt,” she added. “I hope in the Olympics I was able to show a bit of my capabilities, and hopefully in the pros, people will still support me and follow me and see what I’m all about.”

She will fight with a message as a professional, just as she did as an amateur, boxing for herself, her Bolton hometown, standing for both Britain, where she has lived since childhood, and refugees around the world.

“No matter where I am or where I go, I’ll always be representing more than just myself,” Ngamba said.

“I’m just one of millions out there. There’s many, many millions out there that need the support and help. I’m proud of myself and I’m sure that they’re proud of me for what I’ve achieved.

“If you already know that what you’re representing is something big and something amazing, something that can change, you know, certain people’s perception of refugees around the world, then you feel at peace with it.

“Because you know it’s something good and something extraordinary.”