Nicola Hopewell: “If anyone called me out, I wouldn’t say no. I don’t shy away from a challenge. I like to challenge myself against the best, so why not.”

Nicola Hopewell: “If anyone called me out I wouldn’t say no. I don’t shy away from a challenge. I like to challenge myself against the best, so why not.”

Worksop’s super-flyweight prospect hasn’t fought since February. Potential fight dates have been lost. Hopewell had a fight lined up. A big fight. One with a major title on the line. Hopewell wanted the fight. She trained for it. It looked like a done deal. Contracts were imminent. They never came. In boxing, trust me, that is common. Too common.

Over Zoom, Hopewell told me about the frustrations of the last few months:

“It’s been very frustrating because I thought I was going to get a title fight. I was obviously training for a specific date working everything around that date, even sorting out holidays at work. So I went through all that process for nothing. We kept getting different excuses for why the contracts didn’t come. It’s frustrating because you want to keep training because it’s a title fight, but you can’t get motivated because you can’t see it happening.”

Hopewell finally has a fight on a Ryan Rhodes/Stefy Bull-promoted show at the Magna Centre in Rotherham. There is some relief that she finally has some firm fight news, but the short notice of the fight on July 15th gives the super-flyweight hopeful little time to sell enough tickets to cover the cost of the opponent, who will be announced in the coming days. Hopewell will have to dig deep into her own pockets for the fight to happen. In truth, she has no choice. On the small hall circuit, if you don’t sell enough tickets you don’t fight. A simple brutal fact of the life of a boxer who isn’t aligned with one of the bigger promotions.

“That’s the side of the sport people don’t see or understand,” Hopewell says. “I’ve got no holidays left before the fight so I can’t put in a holiday and go around trying to sell tickets and visiting sponsors, things that I would normally do. And with only three weeks’ notice people are already busy on that day, they have booked holidays etc. So ticket sales are not going great so I will have to take a loss on this fight so I can be active. It’s not about making money, I do it because I enjoy it. I am willing to do that just to have a fight. You have to do these things for the bigger fights later on.”

Hopewell hasn’t been idle in the last few months of ring inactivity. She has found love and a new gym. Her beloved Sheffield United have got promoted to the Premier League, and that is her boxing aim also. Hopewell wants titles before the year is out. The hope is that July 15th will be the gateway to bigger things.

“I have been in the gym and we have been working on some stuff and I think I am a lot better fighter than I was in February, and hopefully, I will show that on July 15th. As long as I keep active the bigger stuff will come I am sure.” Hopewell told me, a fighter ambitious and hard-working to the core. “I’ve just got to go out and win this fight and see what position I am in after the fight.”

After flirting with the idea of campaigning at flyweight, Hopewell, while keeping her options open, will fight at super-flyweight for the foreseeable future. If ever a weight division cries out for a British title it is the super-flyweight ranks. It sits quite nicely in the middle of the flyweight and bantamweight divisions. Fighters can move up, or down, to join the fighters already residing in the super-flyweight division.

The likes of Maisey Rose Courtney, Chloe Watson, Shannon Ryan, Emma Dolan, Lauren Parker and Hopewell form a deep and talented group of fighters who all could justifiably fight for the inaugural British super-flyweight title. It seems the logical next step for the progress of women’s boxing on the domestic scene. Hopewell is more than up for fighting any of her domestic rivals.

“If anyone called me out, I wouldn’t say no. I don’t shy away from a challenge. I like to challenge myself against the best, so why not.”

The hiatus will end in a few short weeks. It will be fight number four for the unbeaten super-flyweight prospect. The attitude to fight her fellow prospects, even as the b-side, is a refreshing change in an era of avoidance. Eddie Hearn would be wise in looking at Hopewell as a potential opponent for one of his fighters. Add in a British title, it does seem like an opportunity that is too good to miss. As Hopewell says herself, if the call came, she would answer.

Photo Credit: GBM Sports