Nikki Adler, the world’s super middleweight boxing champion gladly accepted my interview invitation in spite of her intensive training and preparation for the defense of her WBU – titles on 4 July 2015 in Martfeld at Bremen (later it has been postponed for 17th of July and it has been replaced with defense of her WBC- title).
She says TV Bayern will take over television coverage of her preparation for this great World Cup and of the match itself.
For Nikki Adler, it will be the first big challenge this year. The second big boxing event should be held in October and the third one in December.
Nikki Adler: “Last year I participated in Mexico at the WBC Convention. This year it should be organized in Germany in Augsburg for the first time. All boxing champions were in Mexico last year and it would be the same case here in Germany. Subsequently, the boxing evening would be held. I will fight in the main match. The organizer would be my promoter.”
Nikki Adler won the WBC title on the 30th of November 2013 after a spectacular and historic boxing match against Zane Concerns in Chechnya. Since then she has been the holder of the WBC belt. When asked if it is true that Laila Ali, the daughter of Muhammad Ali, was the holder of that WBC belt, Nikki Adler replied.
Nikki Adler: “It’s true. The daughter of Muhammad Ali, Laila Ali, was the holder of the WBC belt. WBC is the oldest and the world’s largest association of boxing. It is the most prestigious title because Muhammad Ali was the holder of it, and his daughter was the first female professional boxer. I have been the holder of the WBC belt since 2013 since I won in Chechnya. In October, it will be the defense of the WBC and WBU belts.”
Nikki Adler started with boxing when she was fifteen years old. When asked how she managed to have box training and other duties simultaneously, she replied:
Nikki Adler: “Recently, not so well because I have a lot of commitments, and I have to train and then it is hard to concentrate on other things. It is difficult. I love boxing. I have to go to training, but I love it. It is my decision. It’s my choice. Boxing is my life.”
Jasna Lovrinčević: “How many times a day do you train?”
Nikki Adler: “Two to three times a day, but it is different from day to day. I start in the morning, from nine or ten o’clock to twelve o’clock. If I train three times a day, then I train from two o’clock till three o’clock in the afternoon and in the evening from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. or till 9:00 p.m. Before a match, approximately six weeks before, I usually have an intensive training, and prior to it I train once or twice every day.”
Despite intensive preparations for the soon walking into the ring, Nikki Adler finds time for other activities too, such as the involvement in the association “Keine Macht den Drogen” (No Power To Drugs). Just after this interview, she is going to spend two days working with children in the context of this association.
Nikki Adler: “I train young children in the context of the association “Keine Macht den Drogen”. That association works a lot with children aged 11-15 years. It organizes the camp three times a year. I will train children and talk to them. Children are offered sports to avoid taking drugs. Children learn that one can do good things in his or her lives and how one can achieve his or her goals.”
To be a world champion and to remain at the top of the box ranking means a lot of effort, sacrifice and stress. Peace and relaxation are essential. Nikki Adler says that sometimes she relaxes by cooking.
Nikki Adler: “I love to cook and make a cake. It makes me calm and I do not think about boxing. I just concentrate on the cake and it’s nice for me to do that when I have free time. On Sundays, I always go to church for Holy Mass. It’s also something that I like to do. It makes me calm too. On Sundays, I do not train.”
I spoke with Nikki Adler on the 2nd of June, immediately after her return from Hamburg, where she took part in a big charitable evening with a number of prominent persons. As a boxing star, Nikki Adler is a frequent and dear guest of TV shows and public events with famous actors and athletes. Last year she participated in the TV show “Das perfekte Dinner” (The Perfect Dinner) and she will soon appear in the popular series “Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten” (Good Times, Bad Times), but she wasn’t allowed to say anything specific about her role yet.
Nikki Adler is looking forward to this kind of invitations. Almost every weekend she takes part in a public event.
Nikki Adler: “Now it has become normal for me to participate in such big events. It’s always very nice for me to go there. I love to dress nice and to make a nice hairstyle. When you are boxing, you just tie your hair in a ponytail, you can’t have any makeup, you don’t make your hair because you don’t have time for that. That’s why it’s nice for me to participate in different events every weekend. It is really nice.”
It is hard to connect Nikki Adler with a fighting sport like boxing. She says that most of the people say that she doesn’t look like a box fighter. In fact, her attractive appearance does not fit into boxing.
Nikki Adler: “That is right. The box is another world for me. When I go fighting in the ring, I’m completely different, I am aggressive, I want to win. This is something else. Privately, I am not at all like that, but the fight is a completely different life for me.”
Every Sport Carries a Certain Risk
Nikki Adler is aware of all the risks associated with boxing, but she says that every sport carries a certain risk.
Jasna Lovrinčević: “Does your mother worry when you have a match?”
Nikki Adler: “My mother doesn’t go anymore to watch my matches because she can no longer stand it to watch someone beats me. She says it hurts her heart. She does not like it at all. At the beginning of my carrer she used to watch my fights. She says she will always support me, but she will not come to the match. A mother’s heart always beats differently. But my dad always comes. He’s my biggest fan and he is the biggest critic. In boxing, it is normal to receive hits in the face. When you get a black eye, my mother can not see me because she was sorry. She says: “I gave birth to you and someone else beats you. Why do you torture yourself when you are not forced?” That is understandable. That’s why I say nothing.”
Jasna Lovrinčević: “How did you feel in Mexico, last year at the WBC Convention?”
Nikki Adler: “It was a very nice feeling. When you see all champions and great people then you really feel great. Then you have the feeling: I have succeeded too. That thought came to your mind and you become conscious of it. While you are training and, go to competitions and promotions, you don’t think about your achievements or your success. You always want to do more and make it better. Before I went to Mexico, I became aware: “You have succeeded”. And this is a nice feeling.”
In July Szilvia Szabados will be the rival of Nikki Adler. She is from Hungary, but she is training in the United Kingdom.
Nikki Adler: “She is strong because there are very good schools in England, with a lot of investment in boxing. They have very good coaches.”
When asked why she has not participated in the Olympics, Nikki Adler replied:
Nikki Adler: “I could not go to the Olympics in 2008 while I was boxing for the national amateur group. In that time, I fought for Croatia in the amateur group, and I had a German sponsor because Croatia could not pay for me, Croatia couldn’t afford it. Then Germany offered me to box for Germany because I was already a champion of Germany for five years, and then I changed citizenship. But, AIBA, The World Association for Amateur Sport, blocked me to box at all for three years, not even for Germany or for Croatia, because I changed my passport. Unfortunately, through this circumstances, I haven’t got any opportunities (for the Olympics) and I am sorry about it. When I was blocked by AIBA, my sponsor told me, that I will either stop boxing or switch to professional boxing. Since then, from the end of 2010, when I moved to Berlin, I have been into professional boxing. I have never trained in Croatia, but I participated in the Croatian championship in Zadar 2008. As the Croatian champion, I participated in the European Championship 2008 in Liverpool and won the bronze medal and at the World Championship 2009 in China, I was the fifth. All of these competitions were amateur championships.”
When Nikki Adler changed her citizenship she has changed also he birth name. Her birth name was Nikolina Orlovic.
Today Nikki Adler is a world boxing star with four belts of WBU, WIBA, WBF and WBC.
Jasna Lovrinčević: “Who are the most difficult opponents, the amateurs or the professional ones?”
Nikki Adler: “In the amateur group, they are all good. They use to box each month, they are always ready and they box always four rounds. Professional boxing is tough. Women are harder, they ‘have a strong head’. The professional box is nicer, you have more time to show a nice box while in amateur boxing you have to box fast because you don’t have much time, you only have four rounds. In professional boxing, you have more time to study your opponent.”