Skye Nicolson: “I already feel like a completely different fighter.”

Skye Nicolson: “I already feel like a completely different fighter.”

After turning professional in 2022, Skye Nicolson breezed through her first five professional fights. Virtually untouched, Nicolson had effortlessly and impressively moved to 5-0 and in rapid quick time. Nicolson was talking of world titles in the early months of 2023. But then, in fight number six, the Australian had a little bit of a reality check.

Post-fight, it felt like a defeat. It wasn’t. But Nicolson has extremely high expectations of herself and very big ambitions. In truth, they go hand in hand. But there is always sun on a cloudy day. One bad night at the office doesn’t cancel out what came before. Time for a little reset. Nothing more. Nicolson is still very much a serious talent and a fighter who quite justifiably talks about winning titles at multiple weights.

Nicolson went to New York in February hoping to make a real impact statement against the unbeaten Spanish fighter Tania Alvarez. Despite winning by the proverbial landslide on the cards, for a fighter who demands perfection and replication of what she shows in the gym, it wasn’t enough. But while it wasn’t quite a back-to-the-drawing-board rebuild, Nicolson went away reflected, adjusted, and improved. An acceptance that she needed to add a little more to her arsenal if she is to realise those lofty career ambitions. Very quickly, Nicolson found what she was looking for.

Major titles are still the goal. Nothing has changed in that department. The tougher-than-expected struggle with Alvarez at the iconic Madison Square Garden could turn out to be a real turning point in the career of one of the best prospects in boxing.

“It definitely wasn’t my best performance, but I feel I have learned so much from that experience. Just being back in the gym this past week, I already feel like a completely different fighter.” Nicolson told me a few weeks after her fight with Alvarez. This Saturday night in Wales, Nicolson will hope to demonstrate what she has learned in the last few months in the gym. A supremely confident fighter, that confidence comes from sparring with some of the best fighters in the corner. Much of her frustration comes from what she sees in those sparring sessions:

“It has opened my eyes in that even though I have all these amazing performances in the gym against the best girls, I still need those development rounds and those learning fights.” A deluded fighter is a dangerous fighter. To themselves. Luckily, Nicolson is level-headed enough not to let that impressive self-confidence lead to an ego that will eventually run out of control.

Nicolson 27, was hoping she would be facing an undefeated British fighter this Saturday night in Cardiff to get some of those development rounds in, but when that prospective opponent pulled out injured with the fight set to be announced, the search went out for a new opponent. With limited time for that quest, Nicolson has had to settle for recent Raven Chapman victim and former world champion Linda Laura Lecca. Fellow featherweight prospect Chapman dropped Lecca in the final round last month before winning a one-sided points decision over Lecca. Nicolson will look to go one better than her rival and potential future opponent. Without a stoppage victory on her professional resume so far, stopping someone who Chapman couldn’t stop just a few weeks ago would send a nice little signal to the rest of her division.

If, as expected, Nicolson moves to 7-0 this weekend, thoughts will then turn to what lies ahead. Nicolson looks set to move to the next level in the not-too-distant future. A possible tilt at the WBC Interim featherweight could be next before a world title fight proper before the year ends.

New York might not have been that statement-making performance she craved, but Nicolson will hope Wales will be everything her last fight wasn’t. There is every chance it will be.