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g landing the more powerful shots – ut it’s still the same hard work.” Nicola and her megawatt smile won e hearts of a nation when she scooped old at London 2012 and repeated the at at last year’s Rio Games.
Medals
It made her the first British boxer nce 1924 to win back-to-back Olympic olds – plus she also bagged the World hampion title last year too. “I’d achieved everything I wanted to chieve as an amateur,” she explains. “After 2012 I wanted to continue being n amateur because I wanted to become world champion. “At that time I’d had three lver medals at the World hampionships and I anted that gold. I also wanted to do the double in the Olympics. I did all that and now I’m on to new challenges.”
She has signed with boxing promoter Frank Warren, who previously admitted to being no fan of women’s boxing until Nicola made him “eat humble pie”. Nicola laughs: “If I can change Frank’s mind, I’m sure I can change anyone’s mind! It’s been really good working with him. I get on well with Frank and he’s a nice guy.
“We’ve been talking about the strategy moving forward and we really want to take women’s professional boxing to the next level.”
Nicola is also releasing her autobiography, Believe, in May and promises it will reveal the secret struggles and troubled home life she faced before finding fame in boxing.
She says: “Nobody really knows anything about me apart from the fact I’m a double Olympic champion.
“Everybody just hears about 2012 and onwards but they don’t actually hear about how I grew up, what it was like, how I got into boxing.
“I talk about the struggles away from the sport – growing up, my mum getting meningitis when I was in high school and being in hospital for a couple of months. There’s a lot in there that’s interesting.”
Nicola has also set herself another challenge and is taking part in the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 46 cycling event in July.
Inspire
She will take on the 46-mile route which is designed for new and younger cyclists, and launched the event alongside some young people who will be riding. “I was asked to get involved and inspire the kids to take part in cycling and take up new challenges,” says Nicola. “But it’s going to be a new challenge for me too!
“I’ve tied it into my boxing training. I do cycling as part of that anyway so I just do a little bit extra.”
Another celebrity who’s got into boxing is singer Ellie Goulding who last week revealed she’s been training hard for the past couple of years and would like actually to take part in a fight.
So would Nicola take on Ellie in the ring?
“I’d definitely train alongside her and give her some tips but I don’t think we’ll be fighting – it wouldn’t be fair!” she laughs. “You can’t put an Olympic champion in with a raw novice.”
¬ÊNicola will be riding the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 46 on July 30. The public ballot entry system for the 2017 Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 46 is now open at prudentialridelondon.co.uk and closes on May 12 or when 20,000 riders have registered.