Former police officer Tiara Brown became WBC world featherweight champion by beating Skye Nicolson in a split-decision victory on Saturday in Australia.
The 36-year-old Brown took Nicolson’s belt when judges scored the bout 97-93 and 96-94 in her favor, with one judge scoring it 96-94 for Nicolson.
Brown (19-0) dropped to the canvas in tears when she was announced as the winner. It was the first professional loss for Nicolson (12-1), a 29-year-old Australian, who had been a heavy favorite to win the match.
Dan Himbrechts/AAP Image via AP
Brown had been an officer both in the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington D.C. and more recently for the Fort Myers Police Department in her native Florida.
The Fort Myers PD had wished Brown good luck ahead of the 10-round bout, saying on Instagram that she “has always been a fighter – both in and out of the ring.”
Speaking ringside to broadcaster DAZN, Brown gave a shoutout to God and her hometown of Fort Myers and said it’s been “20-plus years of wanting this moment.”
The new champion said she’s not focused yet on her next bout.
“I like my options, my options are good, (but) right now I just want to go home and eat some cupcakes and some cookies and watch some cartoons,” Brown said.
Two days before the bout, Brown playfully tried to snatch the belt from Nicolson during a lively news conference, the BBC reported.
Brown is a boxing coach with the Fort Myers police athletic league, training young boxers.
“I just think that I want to give these kids back what I had,” Brown told CBS affiliate WINK-TV earlier this month.
Born and raised in Lee County, Brown told the station she fell in love with sports at an early age.
“I ran track and cross country. I played basketball,” she told WINK-TV. “But I had two cousins that were boxers, so while I would be getting ready for basketball tournaments, I would go to the boxing gym and I just got really good at it so I never stopped.”
