Nate Williams
BBC Sport at Manchester Arena

A wild start to Nicola Adams' professional career but a confident one at that.

Great Britain's double Olympic champion wins on points by 40-36.  

The 'Lioness' roars with delight and celebrates with a little Ali shuffle to thank all four corners of the arena. 

Adams' pound for pound personality shines through as she aims to take women's boxing to new levels. 

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So what did Nicola Adams make of her professional debut?

"I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it," she told BT Sport. "I was a bit too eager to get the stoppage as I wanted to entertain the crowd.

"She was hanging in there, literally. This is amazing. I would like to thank all the fans for coming out to watch me.

"You can see a lot more without the headguard. I loved it. I'm here to stay."

I'm not sure I've seen Nicola Adams stop smiling all week, even through her gum shield she seems to be grinning.

And why not? A promising start to her professional career as she takes the decision 40-36.

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One more round to go for Nicola Adams on her pro debut then.

She touches gloves with Carcamo but then jumps forward on the front foot, dipping low before throwing right, left and right again.

This is a little scrappy, but Adams is starting to connect more frequently.

She ducks a Carcamo left-hander and throws a body shot into the gut of the pink-topped Argentine.

It's been pretty comfortable for the 34-year-old. And that's it. Almost certainly Adams'.

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Nicola Adams packs a ferocious punch, but she's equally nimble on her feet.

She darts in and throws one at Carcamo before dropping back again, the Argentine then tries to land a right but ends up taking an Adams uppercut to the side of the face.

Adams is in control of this on her debut, but she has to be careful as a stray Carcamo swing catches the double Olympic champion.

She'll be happy enough with how the first three rounds have panned out.

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Nicola Adams' coach Virgil Hunter tells her to settle down.

She goes straight on the attack in round two and unloads with a flurry of pucnhes with those white gloves.

Carcamo is awkward, hard to hit, but Adams draws her in and then winds up a left towards the body of the Argentine.

And now she's unloading. A nice combination from the 34-year-old before Carcamo wriggles free.

Adams is ticking off the rounds, as expected.

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There's almost a sense of nervous anticipation around Manchester Arena as the venue falls quiet to witness the Lionesses' pro debut.

Adams looks a little nervous herself, she's unable to connect with anything meaningful so far but it's the Leeds fighter who's going after her opponent, and should take the opener.

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Nicola Adams drops the white track top, Carcamo loses her Argentina shirt.

And we're off...

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OK, this international flyweight contest will be will be four, two-minute rounds.

Will it go the distance? Is this the start of something special for Adams? Let us know your thoughts via #bbcboxing

There's the sound of a lion roaring, there's Nicola Adams bouncing around dressed all in white with a gold trim on her jacket.

She's strutting out at Manchester Arena to a bit of Nicki Minaj's Moment 4 Life.

It's almost time...

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Here comes Nicola Adams' opponent Virginia Noemi Carcamo, dressed in the Argentina national football strip.

Now time for the golden girl...

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Image source, Getty Images

In fact, Adams' dream is to emulate her hero... having been weaned on a diet of her dad's old Muhammad Ali videos.

She'll have Ali's route from Olympic glory to world titles in mind as she prepares to make her pro debut tonight at Manchester Arena.

Ali, who died in June, won gold at Rome 1960 before becoming a three-time heavyweight champion in the paid ranks.

"I had to think a lot about the triple but I wanted to follow in the footsteps of my hero," the double Olympic gold medallist told BBC Breakfast.

Image source, Getty Images

Nicola Adams has already achieved one dream, twice... so where do you go from becoming a double Olympic gold medalist?

Las Vegas. 

The Leeds fighter's eyes are on the bright lights of the big city.

"Like every fighter my ultimate goal is to headline a show in Las Vegas and with the way the sport is building at the moment I see no reason why I can't get there," she said.

"Other female boxers like Claressa Shields and Katie Taylor have been putting women's professional boxing on the map and now that I've joined them it can only raise the bar again." 

So Nicola, how do you feel about making your pro debut tonight...?

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... thought as much.

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Right then, this next one should be a cracker. If not just for the occasion.

It marks the start of Nicola Adams' professional boxing career.

The double Olympic gold medalist faces Argentina's Virginia Noemi Carcamo on her debut at Manchester Arena.

The ferocious flyweight has already taken the amateur world by storm, now it's time to conquer the paid ranks.

Thanks Matt, well with plenty of drama already behind us tonight, let's have a look at what's coming up...

How was that for starters, for mains we have Nicola Adam's first professional fight.

I have scoured the office and the best man to talk you through the golden girl's debut is Alex Bysouth.

Over to you Alex.

How about a rematch then?

"I am the most genuine fighter you'll come across, if Frank (Warren) offers the money I would do that again," adds Liam Smith.

Here's Gary Lockett on why he pulled his fighter out: "He said he couldn't see. I can't let him fight with that. It was only going to get worse. He couldn't see out of it."

Promoter Frank Warren adds: "It's a shame the winner is not coming away with a title. We'll try and do it again for a title."

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Liam Williams thinks it was a clash of heads that cut his eye, Liam Smith isn't so sure.

Either way Williams is gracious in defeat.

He tells BT Sport: "I felt comfortable, I did start to tire after five or six rounds, last one when it got stopped I felt ok again. All credit to Liam, he is a class fighter I respect him."

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