Olympic champion and TV star reveals plans for shock boxing comeback at 42 – after cracking Hollywood
A FORMER Olympic champion is set for a shock boxing comeback aged 42.
But only once she has cracked Hollywood.
The British star secured gold medals at London 2012 and then again four years later, defending her title at Rio 2016.
But a torn pupil in her eye left her at risk of going blind so she retired in 2019 with an undefeated pro record.
Now, though, five years on, Nicola Adams is ready to return to the ring.
She told The Sunday Times she has been “steadily doing the groundwork” and is prepared to channel her inner Floyd Mayweather.
Adams said: “I just feel like I might have one or two fights left in me.
“It’s pretty certain [it will happen], 90 per cent.
“I think I just needed a break because I’d spent God knows how many years of my life boxing and there were so many different things I wanted to try and do.
“But I never stopped training, I’ve already stayed in shape, and when I look at the skill level of the girls in and around my weight division, I’m definitely backing myself.
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“I feel the same as Floyd Mayweather does.
“He was still able to control these younger fighters when he was 40-something years old because of his skill and ringcraft.
“I want a big fight, and why not throw a [world title] belt in there for good measure.”
Leeds’ Adams, who turns 42 later this month, rose to prominence with her golden success at her home Olympics then backed it up in Brazil four years later.
Adams collected all the amateur titles available to her, was Olympic, world and European champion simultaneously and then turned pro in 2017 after 99 amateur bouts.
The following year, she claimed the vacant WBO flyweight world title against Isabel Millan then kept hold of it in a draw with Maria Salinas in September 2019.
But the Salinas fight came at a cost, with Adams sustaining the eye injury that saw her hang up her gloves with a 5-0-1 record.
That gave the Yorkshirewoman – awarded an MBE and OBE – the chance to explore different avenues, including becoming a mother with her girlfriend Ella Baig via IVF.
Adams featured in the first same-sex pair on Strictly Come Dancing in 2020.
I spent a couple of years trying to undo my poker face because in boxing you never show any emotion. It was difficult at first to show what I’m actually feeling inside.
Nicola Adams
She also appeared on Celebrity Gogglebox and had cameos on Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Waterloo Road.
And now after classes at Identity School of Acting, she has landed her first gig in a Hollywood film – following a host of rejections.
Adams will appear in The Gun On Second Street, a film about two Pittsburgh police officers who exchange lives after an unexpected, tragic event, alongside Poppy Delevingne.
She added: “Landing the first role is always the hardest. It’s taken me five years.
“I’ve done a lot of self-tapes. I think because I’m seen as a boxer people think you can’t act so I’ve almost got more to prove.
“It’s not just, ‘Oh look, Nicola Adams,’ and then I’m gone. I’ve got a really good part. I’ll be doing an American accent as well so I’ve been working with voice coaches.
“It’s just been a really exciting journey learning how to express myself in different roles. I spent a couple of years trying to undo my poker face because in boxing you never show any emotion.
“If you get hurt in the ring, you can’t show your opponent anything. It was difficult at first to show what I’m actually feeling inside.”