That being an olympic champion doesn't means anything in the pro ranks; out of 120 olympic champions that have turned pro, 42 have won a world title, so 1/3 have been champions and you need to keep in mind that... -I'm counting all the champions that turned pro in the history of the olympics. -The olympic system wasn't having really world class boxers until 1952. -Manny of them were shot by the time they turned pro. -Many of them, mostly the really old timers, didn't have a chance to fight for a title. -Only after the 1976 the olympic champions started to get really good opportunities for being olympic gold medalists. -I'm not counting the rest of the olympians, but you have a lot of them that became champs: Bowe, Mayweather, Virgil Hill, Golovkin, etc... and even non medalists: Cotto, Forrest, Vargas, etc... -Some of the champions of 2012 haven't received a chance for a title yet... *i counted Roy Jones as a gold medalist because he clearly won his final, but is the only unofficial gold medalist i counted* Now, i'm not saying that being an olympic champion equals being a world champions, but is a fact that being an olympic champions requires a high level of talent and skill and i estimate that around half of the olympic champions that turned pro post 1976 have been professional world champions, but that isn't a fact, i would do that research later.
Of course being a top quality amateur, and certainly a Olympic gold medalist helps for your pro career. It means you have the boxing basics down to a tee, and if you have the physical and mental parts too, you might be a very good pro boxer. But I think most that claim "it doesn't mean sh_t!" actually mean that it's no guarantee at all, that making it in the ams means you're going to be a big player at the pro ranks as well. It's not by chance the AIBA is changing the rules and have a more pro like system in place now to split the Shiming's from the Lomachenko's.
