Skye Nicolson is reveling in her victory over Raven Chapman in the first-ever women’s world title match in Saudi Arabia. And the WBC featherweight titleholder has her next opponent in mind.
Nicolson topped Chapman by unanimous decision on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol. The judges saw the fight 99-91 and 98-92 (twice).
“I felt I controlled the fight,” Nicolson, now 12-0 (1 KO), said afterward. “I dictated the pace and my timing was on point. I felt sharp and I beat her to the punch. A big part of my gameplan was offsetting her, feinting and beating her to the punch.”
Nicolson won the world title in April 2023 with a wide decision against Sarah Mahfoud, picking up a belt that had been vacated by Amanda Serrano. Since then, she’s defended it with a shutout of Dyana Vargas and now this victory over Chapman, who fell to 9-1 (2 KOs).
“I’m really excited for what’s to come. There’s barely a scratch on the surface,” Nicolson said. “They [her opponents] keep thinking they’ve cracked the code, but the code seems to remain uncracked.”
Nicolson said that her next opponent “has to be Tiara Brown.” That depends on what happens in Brown’s next fight, which was scheduled to take place hours after Nicolson vs. Chapman wrapped up.
Brown (17-0, 11 KOs) was scheduled to face Vargas (19-2, 12 KOs) in Philadelphia for the WBC’s interim world title.
Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport, which promotes Nicolson, sees his fighter remaining undefeated.
“I don’t see anyone beating her,” Hearn said. “And now it’s time to capture all the belts. Undisputed awaits.”
The other featherweight titleholders are Nina Meinke (IBF) and Serrano (WBA, WBO), although Serrano last fought in the weight class a year ago and has her rematch with Katie Taylor on November 15 three divisions north for the undisputed junior welterweight championship.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
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