Nicola Adams OBE (born 26 October 1982) is a British professional boxer. The first woman to win an Olympic boxing title in 2012, she is the 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medallist in the women’s flyweight division.
Adams who took up boxing by accident, fought (and won) her first bout at the age of 13, but it was four years before she found a second opponent.
In 2001, she became the first woman boxer ever to represent England, in a fight against an Irish boxer.There was no career path for women boxers when Adams first took up the sport. ‘It was really tough. We didn’t have any funding. My mum used to have to pay for everything if I wanted to go away to box in another country or go to training camps.
‘I couldn’t find opponents, and even as an adult, I wasn’t getting any funding from boxing. I was working as an extra on Emmerdale and Coronation Street to make money. I did house renovations, painting and decorating, tiling as well. It was tough keeping the dream alive.’
Following the revelation that her mother was battling breast cancer, and a mystery illness afflicting her influential trainer Virgil Hunter, which forced him out of action indefinitely. She was forced to find an alternative coach in San Francisco, her training base, and had to put her career on hold for a few months in the wake of her mother’s worrying news, yet these adversities did not blunt the desire of the double Olympic champion.
She won her two fights in 2018 knocking out Soledad del Valle Frias, also defeating Isabel Millan by Unanimous decision.
“Definitely, 100 percent,” she said. “I’ve overcome many obstacles in my career and in my life and I know that anybody who is put in front of me in that ring, I know I’m going to take them out.”
Adams, 36, will fight WBO flyweight champion Arely Mucino at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 8 March – a venue where Ali boxed in 1971 and 1979 exhibitions.
“I’ve achieved everything there is to achieve as an amateur, and I wanted to go on and get the world title as a professional boxer, just like my hero Muhammad Ali.
Nicola Adams says she wants to win her first professional world title in order to emulate her “hero” Muhammad Ali.
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