SYDNEY (AP) — Former police officer Tiara Brown became WBC world featherweight champion by beating Skye Nicolson in a split-decision victory on Saturday.
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.
Click to Gallery
Former US police officer Tiara Brown reacts after defeating Skye Nicolson, of Australia, in a split-decision to win the WBC world featherweight champion at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP Image via AP)
Former US police officer Tiara Brown, right, battles Skye Nicolson, of Australia, for the WBC world featherweight title at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP Image via AP)
Former US police officer Tiara Brown reacts after defeating Skye Nicolson, of Australia, in a split-decision to win the WBC world featherweight champion at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP Image via AP)
Former US police officer Tiara Brown, left, battles Skye Nicolson, of Australia, for the WBC world featherweight title at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP Image via AP)
FILE - Tiara Brown during a boxing match, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019, in Brooklyn. (AP Photo/Vera Nieuwenhuis, file)
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), an Australian.
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.”
Brown is a boxing coach with the Fort Myers police athletic league.
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.
The 29-year-old Nicolson had won the title last April in a unanimous-decision victory over Denmark’s Sarah Mahfoud in Las Vegas. She made two successful title defenses before facing Brown.
AP boxing: https://apnews.com/boxing
Former US police officer Tiara Brown reacts after defeating Skye Nicolson, of Australia, in a split-decision to win the WBC world featherweight champion at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP Image via AP)
Former US police officer Tiara Brown, right, battles Skye Nicolson, of Australia, for the WBC world featherweight title at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP Image via AP)
Former US police officer Tiara Brown reacts after defeating Skye Nicolson, of Australia, in a split-decision to win the WBC world featherweight champion at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP Image via AP)
Former US police officer Tiara Brown, left, battles Skye Nicolson, of Australia, for the WBC world featherweight title at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP Image via AP)
FILE - Tiara Brown during a boxing match, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019, in Brooklyn. (AP Photo/Vera Nieuwenhuis, file)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
