By Lyle Fitzsimmons

It’s hardly a guaranteed pathway to professional boxing supremacy.

In fact, ring history is littered with examples of fighters who strutted their stuff on the Olympic stage, then fell flat on their medaled faces when the fights got longer and the gloves got smaller.

Exhibit A: Heavyweight gold medalist Henry Tillman.

The Californian ascended the medals stand at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, then embarked on a forgettable punch-for-pay career in which he lost six fights, was stopped four times and fell in seven rounds in the only sniff of a title bout he got before exiting for good at age 32.

Oh, and the guy he beat to punch his ringed ticket to L.A.?

Mike Tyson.

Still, while there’s no guarantee a shiny medal will mean anything once the headgear comes off, there remains ample modern-day proof, too, that establishing street cred on the headiest amateur stage can indeed be a payoff when it comes to the pro game.

Of the top seven fighters in Ring Magazine’s most-recent pound-for-pound rankings, no fewer than four have “Olympic medalist” on their resumes – including three golds and a silver.

Four-belted middleweight monster Gennady Golovkin was a silver medalist at 165 pounds in the 2004 Games. Additionally, former super middleweight king Andre Ward was a light heavyweight Olympic winner in 2004, WBA super bantamweight champ Guillermo Rigondeaux won gold at both the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and WBO junior lightweight claimant Vasyl Lomachenko grabbed golds in 2008 and 2012.

They’re ranked third, fourth, sixth and seventh by The Ring and have compiled a ridiculous 87-1 record with 62 knockouts.

“Competing in the 2004 Olympics and winning a gold medal was one of the highlights of my life and boxing career for a lot of reasons,” Ward told HBO Sports. “The Olympic Games shaped me and gave me confidence. It gave me the attitude to know that I belong at the highest level.”

And Ward’s not the only one who’ll vouch for the value of the Olympic experience.

Two of the three men who label now themselves as heavyweight champions – Deontay Wilder (WBC) and Anthony Joshua (IBF) – won bronze and gold at the 2008 and 2012 Games, respectively.

The evidence doesn’t end with active fighters. Some of the most memorable success stories in the sport’s heavyweight history began with long Olympic runs, including 1960 golden boy Cassius Clay, 1964 and 1968 winners Joe Frazier and George Foreman and 1988 champion Lennox Lewis.

When it comes to other weights, the elites often come in clumps.

The 1976 U.S. Olympic team at Montreal included gold medalists-turned-world champions Leo Randolph, Ray Leonard, Michael Spinks and Leon Spinks, while the aforementioned 1984 team in Southern California had similarly dual elites in Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, Mark Breland and Frank Tate – not to mention Evander Holyfield, who got bronze after a controversial disqualification.

“I've been a gold medalist and a world champion,” Leonard told ESPN.com. “They each hold their own significance, but I have to look at where it all started -- the Olympics. That's No. 1 for me."

Oscar De La Hoya was the lone American gold medalist in 1992, but went on to world titles in six pro weight classes. And in 1996, gold medalists David Reid, Vassiliy Jirov and Wladimir Klitschko ultimately copped title belts from 154 pounds all the way to heavyweight.

“(It was) absolutely a highlight in my life,” Klitschko told CNN.

These days, the multiple golden eras of U.S. boxing from past Games are so long past that they now seem like the stuff of cavemen and dinosaurs.

The American men were completely blocked from the medals stand in London in 2012, and had it not been for the introduction of women's boxing -- where the U.S. picked up a gold at middleweight (Claressa Shields) and a bronze at flyweight (Marlen Esparza) -- the national medal count would have plunged to a historic low.

As it stands, no American male has won gold at any Olympics since Ward in 2004 and no U.S. man has won a medal of any color since Wilder was third among the heavyweights at Beijing.

But there is at least some reason for hope.

And with that in mind, here's a quick rundown of U.S. fighters most likely to be packing a medal in their luggage as they exit Brazil.

Mikaela Mayer, United States
Nine years after throwing her first competitive punch, former model Mayer will make her Olympic debut after barely missing a chance to compete in London in 2012.

She first created an international stir with a bronze at the world championships that year and has a chance to boost it to an Olympic-level bauble, but she'll face a tough challenge along the way in the former of reigning Olympic champion Katie Taylor (Ireland).

Gary Antuanne Russell, light welterweight
If the name sounds familiar, it should. The 20-year-old Russell -- who often goes by his middle name -- is the younger brother of former U.S. amateur star and current professional world champion Gary Russell Jr.

The older brother missed out on his Olympic goals eight years ago when he fell ill after trying to cut weight for a bout. So the medal hopes have gone to the younger sibling, who lost his first fight at the U.S. trials and had to claim his ticket to Rio by emerging from the challengers' bracket.

Claressa Shields, middleweight
If there's a lock among the gloved U.S. athletes, it may be the 21-year-old Shields, who made a violent impact on the Olympic level with a gold-medal performance in London in 2012.

She's boosted her worldwide street cred by not losing since. In fact, her career record is now up to 74-1, she's added 2014 and 2016 world championships to her trophy case, and she'll arrive in Rio de Janeiro as the odds-on favorite to repeat.

Shakur Stevenson, bantamweight
Though he's just weeks past his 19th birthday and making his first Olympic trip, Stevenson will nonetheless be a favorite when it comes to the bantamweights in Brazil.

He was a gold medalist at the Youth Olympic Games two years ago and has never lost an international match -- going 23-0 on that level in his brief career. But the road to the medals stand could very well include obstacles in the form of reigning world champion Michael Conlan (Ireland) and defending Olympic kingpin Robeisy Ramirez (Cuba).

Antonio Vargas, flyweight
Another precocious American teen, Vargas will turn 20 during competition at the Games and could celebrate in a big way with an appearance in the gold-medal match scheduled for Aug. 21 -- the day of the closing ceremonies.

He won his weight class at the U.S. trials earlier this year and was named the Elite Male Athlete of the Year by USA Boxing in 2015 after winning a gold medal at the Pan-American Games.

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This week’s title fight schedule:

No fights scheduled.

Last week’s picks: 1-1 (WIN: Klassen; LOSS: Juarez)
2016 picks record: 57-15 (79.1 percent)
Overall picks record: 789-263 (75.0 percent)

NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body's full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA "world championships" are only included if no "super champion" exists in the weight class.

Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.