Skye Nicolson: “If I show even 20% of what I have shown in the gym, this fight won’t go ten rounds.”

Skye Nicolson: “If I show even 20% of what I have shown in the gym, this fight won’t go ten rounds.”

I have interviewed Skye Nicolson many times. But this time, she seems different. A fighter at peace. A fighter no longer chasing something that has gone. A fighter focussing on the here and now. And, of course, what lies ahead.

Since she made her professional debut last March in San Diego, Nicolson is seemingly on a mini-world tour having fought in her native Australia, New York, the UK and now Mexico where she will challenge the Argentinian Sabrina Maribel Perez for her WBC Interim featherweight title this coming Friday.

Nicolson has always been supremely confident about her own abilities. But as we connected over Zoom, her words carried an even more authoritative tone.

“I have had an unreal camp. It’s definitely my best by far. I am the fittest and strongest I have ever felt. The best prepared I have ever been,” Nicolson told me. “I have been sparring very well, and I am excited to show what I have been doing in the gym. I think you are going to see a different beast on Friday. Skye 2.0. A version that’s never been seen before. I have shown it in the gym, and my team has seen it, but I would love the rest of the world to see it. I am very excited about the fight.”

There has always been an impressive tone and conviction that surround her words. Even more so this time. That southpaw elusive style has always been her strength. Nicolson adds a little bit of art to the brutality that lies within her sport. But the Australian knows she needs to add a little more to her game, and she intends to demonstrate that on her opponent on Friday night.

“I think you will see a more aggressive, calculated, spiteful, and dominant performance,” Nicolson told FightPost. “I know my performances are usually quite dominant, but you will see different shot selections, different punch output, more work-rate, and I am looking to close the show early. If I show even 20% of what I have shown in the gym, this fight won’t go ten rounds.”

Nicolson turned professional after a stellar amateur career that ended in tears after a wafer-thin points loss in the quarter-finals of the Tokyo Olympics to Karriss Artingstall. It has always been a case of unfinished business for Nicolson. Thoughts more than lingering to go to Paris in 2024 and try again for that much cherished Olympic medal. But now that business is finished. Nicolson has decided to leave the past behind and concentrate on her professional career. A decision she believes is the reason why her preparations have been on another level for the fight with Perez on Friday.

“I think that is why this camp has been so good for me. The time and attention I have given it and knowing I can let that go and move on and concentrate solely on my pro career and what I have got coming up. I have been so much more level-headed going into this camp, and I just knew this was what I wanted to do. There is no second guessing or thoughts in the back of my mind about the amateur system, and I think that has definitely played a part in me having such a great camp.”

Even earlier this summer, the odds would have indicated a return to the amateur ranks. Nicolson had a couple of visits to the Australian amateur camp, reuniting with old friends. The fighter needed answers. And quickly. Within those training camps, Nicolson found what she needed. A realisation that she now has moved on from what she used to be.

“I enjoyed being back in that team environment. I enjoyed being back in those training camps. I love boxing, and I love being around all those athletes. But I also realised how much my style has changed. Being back in the amateur camps and sparring with the amateurs, I was thinking I don’t fight like this anymore. I was much more grounded, much more flat-footed, and loading up more on my shots. It was very different, and I thought I had just spent a year and a half changing all this stuff, and I would now have to change back undoing everything I have been doing since I turned professional. And then I would have to spend time changing it all back again. In the position I am in now, am I really going to put that on hold for another two or three years? So that was a big reason for my decision and when I came back from those camps and I was still undecided I realised then that it wasn’t my priority anymore and there was no point trying to convince myself that it was.”

Nicolson has told me before that what she shows in the gym isn’t always what is reflected on fight night. There have been certain frustrations, despite the former Olympian winning all her seven professional fights with some degree of comfort. And no little style. Those frustrations could end on Friday night, Nicolson relayed to me.

“We haven’t even seen glimpses of the best Skye Nicolson in my previous pro fights and camps. I have given everything in this camp. I have treated it like I am fighting Amanda Serrano. There has been no stone left unturned, and I can honestly say hand on heart that I haven’t given all of myself like I have for this fight. I think that will be the difference and I think that will really show on Friday night.”

The difference now is that Nicolson is focused on that one thing. She has found her inner peace, and there is no more looking back. Only forward. It is that clear mind that the Australian believes will be the key to her success going forward.

“I am doing exactly what I want to do, and I am getting closer to those big fights now. After this fight, we are going to push my mandatory position with the WBC for the Serrano fight,” Nicolson says with no thoughts of vacant titles. “It will only be big fights now. There is nowhere else to go from here. That realisation of where I am and where I want to be kicked in back in June or July. This is make or break now. This is where it is all going to happen. For me, that is a really big turning point.”

Ever since that pro debut in San Diego last March, despite those flickering Olympic thoughts, Nicolson has been targeting world titles. A win against Perez almost guarantees Nicolson a shot at the WBC title. Like many in the sport where there is only one champion in their weight division, Nicolson will have to wait and see what the undisputed champion decides to do with all the various baubles in their possession. Amanda Serrano defends the majority of her belts next month against Danila Ramos, the WBC title isn’t on the line due to the fight being scheduled for 12 x 3-minute rounds, and Nicolson knows she has to play the waiting game until then. The target is undoubtedly Serrano, but there are plans if the undisputed world featherweight champion is out of reach for the immediate future.

“It really does depend on what Serrano will do with the belts. I think the WBC will serve her mandatory notice, but it will be an interesting one to see. Obviously, I would love to fight for the world title before the end of the year, but if that’s not possible we’ll defend the Interim title before the end of the year hopefully, against a credible opponent. We have been trying to get the bigger names, which is very frustrating, but a lot of those girls don’t want to risk what they have fighting someone with fewer fights than them. But hopefully, with the Interim title and the mandatory position, some of those might now be enticed to fight me.”

Serrano has been the long-time target for Nicolson, and there is hope that she may finally get her wish the unbeaten featherweight prospect told me.

“I’ve heard whispers that Serrano might offer me the fight after Friday, but we’ll see. But for me, I just want to stay focussed on me and my goals and get myself into that mandatory position, and then the ball will be in her court.”

Despite being a professional for well over a year, Friday night, and Sabrina Maribel Perez feels like a new beginning for Skye Nicolson. She will start the fight as a big betting favourite, and while nothing is a formality, it might be a case of not if she wins, but how. Nicolson is promising a big performance against Perez, and if she is true to her word, it could be a performance that makes the rest of her division stand up and take notice. Version 1.0 was good. Version 2.0 could be very special indeed.