By Owen Morgan
Not content with having represented Great Britain at bobsleigh and Wales in athletics, Mica Moore is now turning her hand to boxing.
The Newport-based sportswoman, who finished eighth at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics alongside Mica McNeil earlier this year, is set to climb into the boxing ring for a glamorous charity bout in London on Saturday night.
Moore, who recently announced she was taking a break from bobsleigh to continue her studies, will be fighting on the bill at the star-studded Rumble Boxing event in Battersea.
The event sees models, reality TV stars, entrepreneurs and sports people among others, take part in a series of bouts in aid of gynaecological cancer charity Lady Garden.
The Welsh Commonwealth Games sprinter will be taking on Heloise Nangle, the chief operating officer of London-based gym group Core Collective.
Moore admits to having some reservations when the idea was initially put to her. “When it was offered out to me I wasn’t too sure whether I was too competitive to do it.
“Also, I’d just stepped away from bobsleigh to do my Masters and I felt really bad telling my mum that I’m now going to be getting into a ring.
“I think she thought she was done with all the stress of bobsleigh and potentially crashing and things like that . . . and know I’ve gone and got in a ring!
“Obviously it’s for a charity called the Lady Garden Foundation, which is an amazing charity tackling gynaecological cancers, so it’s a really good cause and I wanted to get involved in that.“
Since signing up, Moore has undertaken a six-week training regime, which she has discovered also benefits her sprinting.
“I’ve really enjoyed the training actually, I think it is something I will keep in my training programme when I’m done with the match on Saturday.
“Obviously, in boxing you have to be fast. You’re working on your fast feet and fast arms all the time and I think that has really helped with my running.
“My arms aren’t the best part of my running technique so I think building the strength in my arms through boxing has really helped.
“It’s also a really good way of getting some cardio in because sprinters don’t like running far at all, so it’s a good way of getting that bit of fitness into my training.”
As you would expect from a woman who sprinted for Wales at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and excelled at the Winter Olympics, Moore has made sure she is properly prepared for her latest sporting challenge.
The 25-year-old enlisted the help of none other than former European and World featherweight champion Steve Robinson and his son Jake, who himself will be climbing into the ring for his fourth professional fight on the same night at a show in Neath.
Cardiff’s “Cinderella Man”, who famously won the WBO world featherweight title at just two days notice back in 1993, says his newest charge is a quick learner: “Me and my son have been training her. She’s been doing alright, she’s actually a quick learner.
“I’ve been training her for about six weeks or so, less than that probably, and she’s picked it up quite well.
“She’s got good hand speed and she’s a strong girl. But boxing takes time to pick things up. It’s an art, boxing, but she’s a quick learner. She’s quite athletic, obviously, with her background. Yeah, I think she’ll do alright.
“When amateur boxers train, it’s for at least six months or a year before they have their first amateur fights, but this is only a white collar charity event, so she’ll be ok.”
Moore has been an eager pupil: ” Steve makes the training really fun and he’s a really good teacher. I really enjoy it.
“I’ve done some work with Jake as well, which has been really nice because he’s got his fight coming up, so I’ve been asking him if he’s nervous, should I be nervous, what music should I come out to? It’s been really good to be able to ask them all these questions because they are pros.
“It’s such a shame, if we weren’t fighting on the same night I would have gone to watch Jake. I’m sure he’ll do amazingly on the night. I’ll drop him a text before and see how he’s got onafterwards. We can share stories.”
No matter how much she has enjoyed the experience and whatever happens in the ring on Saturday night, Moore doesn’t ever see boxing taking over from sprinting or bobsleigh
“I think this is just a one off,” she said. “It would definitely be something I would do to keep my fitness up, but I don’t think I would do too many boxing matches.
“I think I’m a little bit too apologetic, every time I punch someone in training I keep saying ‘sorry‘ and they say ‘stop saying sorry’!
“I think I’ll stick to sprinting and bobsleigh. There’s enough adrenalin in those sports for me.”
Once the fight is over Mica will be concentrating be on her athletics and studies at Cardiff Met.
The sprinter said: “It would be lovely to do an indoor season because I haven’t done one for two years now.
“I actually went down and filmed some indoor competition yesterday, which was really weird to be on the other side filming it, but I’m excited to get on the track and do some events.
“I think that I’m going to try and push myself this year to do some 200s as well, but that’s a long way for a bobsleigher!
“I’ve been putting in the training but we’ll see how it goes. I think I’ll start my indoors maybe in late December or early January. I hope to do Welsh champs and maybe the British indoors as well.“
Moore put the brakes on her bobsleigh career to continue her studies, but says she hasn’t ruled out a return to the ice.
“Cardiff Met offered me a place on the Masters in Sports Broadcast,” she said. “It’s so good, it’s really, really enjoyable. We cover all the topics, it’s really hands on and the programme director is so understanding.
“Because it’s a sports uni and I’ve been here before, I did my undergrad here, I know they have a great understanding of people who are in sport, so that was comforting to know before I started the course.
“We’ve done so many amazing things already, we went and met Claire Balding, we’ve had some great presenters come in to talk to us. It’s so exciting, we’ve done so much and it hasn’t even been two months yet. I’m excited to see what the rest of the course holds.
“I have said that I am just stepping away from bobsleigh for a little bit, I’ve left it open because you never know what you will want to do in the future, so I haven’t ruled out the next Winter Olympics in Bejing.
“But, at the moment, I don’t think I could fit anything else in. We’ll have to see in the next few years what happens.“
Asked whether there were any other sports on the horizon, Moore laughed and said: “I never know, I see something and think ‘that’s cool I’ll give that a go‘.
“I know my dad, in his heart of hearts, is praying that I try rugby, but I’m not sure that one is on the cards!“
For now all her focus is on Saturday night’s bout, although she admits to not knowing much about her opponent.
“Everyone asks me this, I haven’t done too much research on here, I know she’s a little bit taller than me, but I’m trying not to think about her and think about what I’m going to do in the ring.“
The charity event takes place on Saturday evening at Battersea Evolution in Battersea Park. Further details are available on the Rumble Boxing website
The Lady Garden Foundation was founded in 2014 by a committee of empowered women, all of whom had been affected by gynaecological cancer in one way or another.
Since its inception, they have been on a mission to change the future of international women’s health, working to break down taboos and raising both awareness and funding for vital research into gynaecological cancers.
The foundation is supported by the likes of top models Cara Delevigne, Naomi Campbell, Suki Waterhouse and many more.
To find out more about the charity go to: www.ladygardenfoundation.com/ladygardencharity/