Skye Nicolson lived up to her word to bring one home for Matchroom Boxing.
The supremely gifted Australian southpaw retained her WBC 126-pound title with a lopsided points win over England’s Raven Chapman. Scores were 99-91, 98-92 and 98-92 for Nicolson in their battle of unbeaten featherweights Saturday at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Nicolson-Chapman marked the first-ever female fight to appear on a Riyadh Season show since the series’ launch last October. It served in supporting capacity to the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitrii Bivol RING/undisputed light heavyweight championship.
With her stellar performance, Nicolson allowed Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing to finally get a win over Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions. Their head-to-head matchups on the Riyadh Season circuit have landed heavily in favor of Warren. Nicolson vowed to reverse that curse and made good on that promise.
Chapman spent most of the fight looking for a home run shot. Nicolson offered constant lateral movement and her footwork provided constant positioning for her straight left hands. Chapman struggled to adjust to the tactic provided by one of the sport’s best pure boxer.
Nicolson was cruising along until Chapman landed a flush right hand late in the third. It was met with a counter left by Nicolson but provided a glimmer of hope for a competitive fight.
That quickly changed as Nicolson regained her desired spacing in the fourth and never really looked back. She continued to find a home for her straight left and also snuck in left uppercuts whenever at close quarters.
Chapman landed a pair of right hands in the eighth but was already in a deep hole on the scorecards by that point. Nicolson briefly clinched and readjusted her approach. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics quarterfinalist drew in a plodding Chapman with feints and connected with power shots during those moments.
The direction in Chapman’s corner headed into the final round was clear—she needed a knockout. That moment never came close to happening, as Nicolson’s boxing skills were far too superior. Nicolson landed a flush left hand for good measure inside the final ten seconds.
Nicolson advanced to 12-0 (1 knockout) with the win to defend her title for the second time.
Chapman (9-1, 2 KOs) suffered her first defeat in what was also her first shot at a major title.
Nicolson-Chapman was part of an undercard that—for reasons only DAZN can explain—aired live on DAZN pay-per-view. The Beterbiev-Bivol main event will air live on ESPN+.
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The post Skye High: Skye Nicolson Nearly Flawless in Lopsided Points Win Over Raven Chapman To Retain WBC Title appeared first on The Ring.
