Nicola Adams

After the win Frank Warren stated, "She is a champion, there's no going backwards, on 22nd December I'm hoping it will be for the full title".

Nicola Virginia Adams (born 26 October 1982) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2017 to 2019.

Adams was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, on 26 October 1982.

She was educated at Agnes Stewart Church of England High School, Ebor Gardens, Burmantofts, Leeds.

She also went to Hopwood Hall College in Rochdale.

Adams represented Haringey Police Community Club at boxing.

She 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.

In 2003, she became English amateur champion for the first time, and she retained the title at the next three championships.

In 2007, Adams became the first English female boxer to win a medal in a major boxing tournament, taking silver in the European Championships.

She won silver again at the world championships in Ningbo, China, in 2008, which was Britain’s first women’s world championship medal in women’s boxing.

She worked as an acting extra on soap operas such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, and EastEnders, and worked as a builder before the International Olympic Committee backed funding for women's boxing in 2009.

The following year she had to abstain from the sport for several months due to a back injury, but she returned to success at the 2010 world championships in Bridgetown, Barbados, taking Silver again, competing now at.

Adams struggled to continue her boxing career due to lack of funds.

In November 2010, Adams was victorious in the first-ever GB Amateur Boxing Championship at the Echo Arena Liverpool.

In 2011, she won gold medals at the European Union Championships and the European Championships.

In July 2011, the BBC included Adams in a feature on "6 Promising Britons to watch in the Olympics".

As an amateur, she became the first female boxer to become an Olympic champion after winning gold at London 2012, and the first double Olympic champion following a second gold medal at Rio 2016, both in the flyweight division.

She is openly lesbian, and was named the most influential LGBT person in Britain by The Independent in 2012 and has been included in the annual Powerlist, being recognised as one of the most influential black Britons.

She also became the first openly LGBT person to win an Olympic boxing gold medal, after her win at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

In the 2012 Summer Olympics, Adams defeated Mary Kom from India in the Flyweight semi-final.

She went on to defeat Chinese boxer and world number one Ren Cancan in the final to claim the first Olympic women's boxing gold medal.

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Adams knocked out Michaela Walsh of Northern Ireland to take the gold medal in the women's flyweight division on a split decision.

As of 27 May 2016 she was the reigning Olympic, World and European Games champion at flyweight, and won the entire set of amateur championships available to her – Olympic, Commonwealth and European Games' titles, and the World, European and European Union championships.

At the 2016 Rio Olympic games Adams successfully defended her Olympic title, defeating Sarah Ourahmoune of France in the Final on 20 August.

On 23 January 2017 it was confirmed that Adams had turned professional, having signed with promoter Frank Warren.

She made her debut on 8 April, scoring a four-round points decision victory against Virginia Carcamo at the Manchester Arena.

After securing another three wins, all by technical knockout, she faced former world champion Isabel Millan for the WBO interim female flyweight title on 6 October 2018 at the Morningside Arena in Leicester.

Fighting beyond four rounds for the first time in her career, Adams defeated Millan via ten-round unanimous decision to capture the WBO interim title.

Two judges scored the bout 97–93 and the third scored it 96–94.

She retired with an undefeated record and held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) female flyweight title in 2019.

She was scheduled to challenge for the full world title on 8 March 2019 against reigning WBO female flyweight champion Arely Muciño at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

However, the fight was postponed after Adams sustained an injury during training and was forced to withdraw.

After Muciño suffered an injury during a successful defence of her title in April followed by an ankle injury sustained in a car crash, the WBO announced that Adams had been elevated from interim to full WBO champion in July 2019 due to Muciño being unable to "participate in active competition".

The first defence of her title came against former world title challenger Maria Salinas.

The bout took place on 27 September 2019 at the Royal Albert Hall and was aired live on BT Sport in the UK and ESPN+ in the US.

After eleven months out of the ring, in what was the first ever female professional boxing match to be held at the Royal Albert Hall, Adams retained her title with a split draw.

One judge scored the bout 97–93 to Adams, another scored it 96–94 to Salinas, while the third scored it even at 95–95.

During the first round of her rematch with Salinas, Adams suffered a torn pupil.

She initially thought it to be a minor injury.