By Ryan Maquiñana

Native New Yorkers Jamel Herring and Marcus Browne have joined four of their U.S. Olympic teammates in signing with adviser Al Haymon following London 2012.

“It’s definitely been a long road to get here,” Herring told BoxingScene.com.  “From Olympic Trials to the World Championships to having to qualify again for the Olympics through the Continental Championships, I’ve been silencing the critics and I have a lot to prove as a pro now that I’ve signed with Al.”

Earlier in the week, welterweight Errol Spence, middleweight Terrell Gausha, super heavyweight Dominic Breazeale, and flyweight Rau'Shee Warren announced they would sign with the influential power broker.

“Al’s worked with the best, and he’s definitely done right by them,” Browne said.  “He’s showing a lot of faith in me, and now I just have to live up to my end of the bargain.”

Herring, a 26-year-old Marine from Coram, recently received his honorable discharge papers and will campaign at lightweight as a pro.  Despite being one of the smaller light welterweights in America, the southpaw cited his boxing acumen as one of his assets.

“I’ve always been small for 141 [pounds], but I’ve relied on my ring generalship and ability to box,” said Herring, who will now train under Mike Stafford, the current cornerman for Adrien Broner as well as Warren.

“Jamel’s a smart fighter, and his style has always been to beat guys to the punch,” Stafford said.  “We just got to get him to sit down on his punches more as far as making the transition to being a pro.”

Browne, on the other hand, will continue to train with coach Gary Stark Sr. in his hometown of Staten Island.  The 21-year-old power-punching southpaw will start his career at light heavyweight, the same weight class in which he fought as an amateur.

“I’m staying here where it all began at Atlas Cops N Kids,” Browne said.  “I’ve showed people I’ve got power.  Now I have to work on my boxing skills to become a more complete fighter as a pro.”

Herring stated he would likely make his debut in December, while Browne estimated that early November would be the date for his first fight.  In their final appearances as amateurs, they dropped their opening bouts in the Olympics.

Haymon’s list of clientele includes Floyd Mayweather, Andre Berto, Danny Garcia, Adrien Broner, Josesito Lopez, Peter Quillin, Austin Trout, Gary Russell Jr., Erislandy Lara, Chris Arreola, Seth Mitchell, and several others.

Ryan Maquiñana was the boxing producer for NBCOlympics.com and currently writes a weekly boxing column for CSNBayArea.com.  He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Ratings Panel for Ring Magazine. E-mail him at rmaquinana@gmail.com , check out his blog at Norcalboxing.net, or follow him on Twitter: @RMaq28.