'I competed in beauty pageants now I'm a Playboy creator and want to be a boxer'

Rheanna Cartier remembers the moment she first stepped into a boxing gym. After years spent in the world of beauty pageants, she had suddenly found herself in a very different, and much more male-dominated, field.

That was probably the biggest challenge, she admitted to Daily Star Sport . Just staying there, getting through it and focusing when the environment can be quite intimidating!

There were plenty of people who questioned why she was doing it in the first place. But for Rheanna, boxing was far from a passing interest - instead, it had been a dream since she was a teenager.

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She remembers asking her parents if she could take up the sport, only to be quickly told, with a laugh: No.

Instead, Rheanna, who grew up in Oxfordshire, found herself drawn into the world of modelling and beauty pageants.

I started modelling when I was 16, she continued. I got scouted at a train station, and then I just got into beauty pageants because it was similar. I thought, Why not? Ill enter one.

Then I started really enjoying it. When I first entered, I was so shy, and I realised that each one I did just made me more confident!

That newfound confidence quickly translated into success. At just 17, she entered Miss England and won the no make-up round - her first taste of pageant success.

Ever since then, Ive just kept doing them. Ive done two in Mexico, one in Egypt, one in South Korea and one in Mongolia. I just started travelling with it.

However, for Rheanna, boxing remained an itch that needed to be scratched: I think I always wanted to do it, but it just took so long.

Once I started doing the pageants and modelling, it was quite hard to feel like people would take me seriously. I went to one club, and I dont think they really took me seriously

Especially when people would say things like, You dont look like you box, or they just didnt understand it. But now they understand it!

Rheanna had the perfect opportunity to silence her doubters when she stepped into the ring for the first time in March 2025, emerging victorious after three rounds.

It does feel really good to actually do well and have people be shocked by it, she admitted. I think thats quite nice.

At the time, the story of a pageant queen transitioning to the world of combat sports picked up traction - including from Playboy.

I saw that they had the Playboy Creator platform and I decided to join because theyd supported me with that article!

For Rheanna, the subscription platform offered another way to give her fans a closer look at her training and her journey into the world of combat sports.

Theyd supported me at the start; I really wanted to work with them in that way. She added that nobody else on the platform showcased boxing: I just thought it would be a good opportunity!

Its very different to what Rheanna presents on her Instagram, where, alongside boxing, she also shares snaps of her pageant career.

Six weeks after she had first stepped in the ring, Rheanna was back competing in pageants - admitting it hasnt really affected my pageants because shes still quite lean.

But the biggest change has arguably been in the way she views her own body and fitness: I think its made me so much healthier because now Im training to be strong.

Im eating healthily, and I think its really changed my view. Before, I was always training to be as small as possible, whereas now Im training to be strong. So I think its been quite a positive change.

However, for the moment, pageants are taking a backseat for her boxing career: Ive actually been offered the opportunity to do influencer boxing, but I kind of want to stay amateur at the moment with England Boxing.

I dont want to go too much into influencer boxing. I want to create content and showcase what Im doing, but not get too involved in the influencer side.

Rheanna added: I feel like my dream is to be a professional boxer one day. Even though pageants were my dream before, boxing was always there because it was something I wanted to do when I was younger.

So my ultimate goal and my ultimate focus now is boxing. Even though Im still doing pageants, I think, If I can, I might as well, especially when Im travelling and things like that.

But the main goal is actually progressing in boxing. Id love to win a title and be a professional boxer.

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