Ringside Report: Skye Nicolson Stops Carla Gonzales in One-Sided Mismatch

Ringside Report: Skye Nicolson Stops Carla Gonzales in One-Sided Mismatch

It looked on paper like a one-sided mismatch, and so it proved. Skye Nicolson somewhat predictably stopped a badly overmatched Carla Gonzales in two rounds at the AO Arena in Manchester on Saturday night.

Gonzales looked well out of her depth, and the Bolivian import had no business sharing a ring with the former WBC world featherweight champion. Boxrec rated Gonzales a lowly 140 in their bantamweight rankings, and her 9-3 pre-fight resume was beyond flattering. Those nine wins have come against fighters who haven’t won a single fight between them. It was about as poor a piece of matchmaking as you can get. Nicolson was 1/100 to win. Those odds say everything. It was a fight that shouldn’t have happened, and I’m surprised it was even sanctioned by the British Boxing Board of Control. Nicolson is a class act, but fighting someone like Carla Gonzales proves very little. In terms of ability, the two were levels apart.

But no fault for the match-up can be laid at the door of Skye Nicolson. The Australian can only fight and beat up those who are put in front of her. Nicolson did her job. And well. Albeit with the confidence of fighting an opponent who was absolutely no threat to her.

Nicolson (13-1) looked sharp and threw far more combinations than we have seen previously. I thought her punches carried a little more potency. But again, we have to consider the level of opposition in front of her. But the opponent aside, I thought Nicolson looked good, and she could be a real threat at super-bantamweight. But much tougher tests will follow, although in truth, it couldn’t get any easier than what we saw tonight. I understand the Australian is on the comeback trail after losing her world title to Tiara Brown in March, and her body is adapting to a lower weight. You can fully expect a drop down in the quality of opposition, but this was far too much of a drop.

Although Nicolson still has one eye on her old weight division, super-bantamweight could be where we see the best of Skye Nicolson. She wants to stay active in building up to another run at a world title. Nicolson is more than capable of winning that second world title, but hopefully, we don’t see a repeat of what we saw tonight.

Photo Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing