LOVE AT FIRST FIGHT
Britain’s golden girl on how she’s fallen for a fellow boxer
Nicola adams is a picture of happiness as she trains for her professional debut in a gym overlooking america’s most famous bay, while her partner in life pounds away on a nearby running machine.
marlen Esparza — born in Houston 27 years ago — has her own history-making pedigree as a medallist at london 2012, where women were first admitted to olympic boxing.
Even though they were on the podium together — Esparza taking the bronze in the same flyweight division — that was not where their relationship began.
ask the first woman ever to win an olympic gold medal if it was love at first fight for her, and adams laughs, adding: ‘oh, no. We will never box each other. We’d known each other for five or six years but never really spoke. We were each other’s nemesis even though we never fought. about a year ago we were both at a training camp in colorado and got talking. That was it.’
on that night when adams won the first of her two olympic golds, i described her as the ‘lassie from leeds with a smile like sunshine and a punch like thunder’. Now she is grinning from ear to ear.
miss adams oBE, 34, is radiant about her relationship.
‘it’s the perfect partnership,’ she says. ‘When you’re a boxer you know the reasons we have to be selfish. But previously in my life it was (someone saying), “Why are you ignoring me, why are you so quiet, why can’t we just go out to dinner?”
‘ When you’re both making weight you understand everything. Understand that when you finish training you’re tired and don’t want to speak.’
What they do not do is spar with each other. Not any longer. ‘Just as we will never fight, we don’t spar,’ adams explains.
‘in the amateurs we missed each other in the draw or she would miss a tournament i won and vice-versa.
‘We sparred only a couple of times. Not too seriously.’
Who was the boss? ‘Pretty much even,’ says adams with a diplomatic smile.
at this moment they are both going through the build-up to their first professional fights. Esparza goes first, as early as tomorrow, in Reno, Nevada. adams will be ringside.
‘i’m more nervous for her than i will be for myself a couple of weeks later,’ she says.
Her turn comes at manchester arena on saturday, april 8, where she will join Terry Flanagan for his home-town world lightweight title defence.
Virgil Hunter, trainer of amir Khan and andre Ward among others in this spartan factory unit on an industrial estate, will be in the corner for both women.
‘i am busy but they are fresh and exciting and so keen to make the transition from amateur to professional that they stimulate me,’ says Hunter.
adams says: ‘it’s nice if i can encourage young people to make the most of themselves. if i can inspire the next generation of boxers.
‘But really it’s just me being me. When i started i was the only girl in the gym and a lot of people helped me. so when a young person tells me i’ve set them an example which has changed their life for the better i am happy.
‘For example one girl came to me with her father. They said she had been doing gymnastics for five years. Then she told me that after seeing me win at the Games she switched to boxing and is doing well.’
adams also reflected on life in america.
‘The weather is kind here in california but England will be home,’ she says.
‘my real reason for being here is this trainer. i thought i knew pretty much everything about boxing but he has already taught me so much. i’ve learned about angles and balance and movement. learned that in-and- out punching has been taken over by pressure and head movement.
‘i came for my change to the pros to the man who turned andre Ward into the only boxer unbeaten at senior level in the amateurs into an undefeated world champion. Who better?’
as it comes to world titles, Nicola and marlen are locked in a private race to be first.
Who wins? ‘me, i hope,’ says adams. ‘if she does it, i’ll never hear the end of it.’
after Hunter’s bout she will return immediately after manchester — ‘i want to box well and excite the crowd’ — to prepare for a leeds homecoming fight the following month. it will be a nostalgic occasion.
‘The last time i boxed in leeds was in my very first fight, as a 13-year-old,’ she recalls.
‘it was in a small ex- service- men’s club with smoke billowing below the ceiling.
‘after that i couldn’t find another tournament until i was 17. i can’t wait to box there again. it will be amazing.
‘if you’re out there winning gold medals, who cares about your sexuality? That’s not important. it’s winners that we want.’
adams is the first lady of British boxing. as Khan confirms: ‘When Nicola first came to the gym she was shy and wanting to prove herself.
‘she quickly did that. she has real power. do i spar with her? No thank you. i’m not getting in the ring with this lady.’
Nicola Adams’ debut and Terry Flanagan’s title defence, for which tickets are on sale at Manchester Arena, will be televised live on BoxNation and BT Sport on Saturday, April 8.