Double Olympic boxing gold medalist Nicola Adams turned professional yesterday, announcing a debut bout in Manchester on April 8 before a “Leeds homecoming” on May 13.
“I think this was the time for me,” the 34-year-old, who has signed with promoter Frank Warren, told broadcaster BT Sport at a presentation in London.
“After 2012, winning the Olympics in London, I still had things that I wanted to achieve. I wanted to become a world champion and a double
Olympic champion before I turned professional.
“Now I’ve achieved everything I wanted to achieve as an amateur and now I want to be a professional and achieve more.”
Warren, who has previously said he did not want to promote women’s boxing, said he was eating ‘humble pie’ in signing the diminutive Adams.
“Of all the signings I have made in my 35 years in the sport of boxing, this is among the most I have been excited about,” he said. “I think Nicola will be challenging for world titles within a year.”
GB Boxing had said earlier that the first female Olympic boxing champion, who defended her 2012 flyweight title in Rio de Janeiro last year, would not be part of their squad working towards Tokyo 2020.
The only other woman to win two Olympic boxing golds, American middleweight Claressa Shields, made her professional debut last November.
Ireland’s Katie Taylor, a lightweight gold medallist in 2012, has also turned professional.
“She has won everything there is to win and her place in history is secured as the first women to ever win a gold medal for boxing and then top it by winning a second one in Rio,” said GB Boxing’s performance director Rob McCracken of Adams.
“We would have welcomed Nicola staying on for the Tokyo cycle, however we recognise her decision to pursue other opportunities and wish her every success in whatever she goes on to do next,” he added. “Nicola has made a huge contribution to both the Olympic programme and the sport of boxing. She is a superb ambassador and has been a significant part of the success we have enjoyed at GB Boxing in the last eight years.”
The 34-year-old Adams, one of the faces of the London 2012 Games, had sparked speculation about her future when she tweeted on Sunday: “Bring on the new era! The change has come huge announcement coming soon stay tuned!!!”
Although professionals are now allowed to compete at the Olympics, Adams has effectively ended her hopes of winning a third gold medal as GB Boxing have made it clear they will favour fighters who are members of their full-time programme.
Adams, a hugely popular figure in Britain, has won pretty much every major title open to her as an amateur. She was the first female fighter to represent England in 2007 and, after overcoming a career-threatening back injury, became boxing’s first Olympic women’s gold medalist when she defeated China’s Ren Cancan in the flyweight final at London 2012.
Adams became the first female boxer to retain an Olympic title when she did so at last year’s Rio Games. Having previously won European and Commonwealth gold medals, 2016 also saw Adams complete a clean sweep of major titles when she won her first world championship by defeating Thailand’s Peamwilai Laopeam in Kazakhstan.
Nicola Adams
