Hatton signs up Australian Olympian

The 21-year-old from Queensland defeated America’s Marcus Browne in the light-heavyweight tournament before going out to Russian Egor Mekhontcev, who went on to win gold.

Hooper courted controversy at the Docklands ExCeL prior to the Browne victory when he made his entrance wearing a t-shirt sporting the Australian Aboriginal flag, breaching the Olympic Charter and leading the Australian Olympic Committee to demand a public apology which never came.

He also won gold at the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore and silver at the Youth World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan the same year, and has been the subject of interest from numerous boxing promoters.

Hooper has placed his future in the hands of former world champion Ricky Hatton, and said of the decision: "I feel privileged to be signed with Hatton Promotions, the team is fantastic and Ricky is a legend.

"I'm going to make some big statements quickly in the pro ranks and I couldn't think of a better promoter than Hatton Promotions to showcase my skill to the world.

"It's the next chapter in my life and I've been looking forward to this for quite some time. I have done my apprenticeship in amateurs and learnt as much possible. Now with my trainer Gareth Williams it's time to put in the hard work and repay the faith everybody has shown in me.

"I want to thank my management Brendan Bourke, Matt Clark and Philippe Fondu and of course Hatton Promotions".

Hatton added: "I'm very excited to have Damien Hooper on board with Hatton Promotions.

“He's a very talented individual that has the potential to follow in the footsteps of Australian greats such as Jeff Fenech and Kostya Tszyu."