Skye Nicolson celebrates victory over Raven Chapman to retain the WBC featherweight title on October 12 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Credit: Leigh Dawney/Queensberry Promotions
Skye Nicolson kept her word to bring one home for Matchroom Boxing.
The supremely gifted Australian southpaw retained her WBC 126-pound title with a lopsided points victory over England’s Raven Chapman. The scores were 99-91, 98-92 and 98-92 for Nicolson in their battle of unbeaten featherweights on Saturday at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Nicolson-Chapman was the first ever female fight to appear on a Riyadh season since the series’ launch last October. It served in a supporting capacity for the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitrii Bivol RING/Undisputed Light Heavyweight Championship.
With her superb performance, Nicolson allowed Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing to finally get a win over Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions. Their head-to-head matches on the Riyadh Season circuit landed heavily in favor of Warren. Nicolson promised to reverse that curse and kept that promise.
Chapman spent most of the at-bat 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 adapt to the tactics provided by one of the sport’s best pure boxers.
Nicolson cruised along until Chapman landed a flush right hand late in the third. This was met with a counter left by Nicolson but provided a glimmer of hope for a competitive fight.
That quickly changed when 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 up close.
Chapman landed a pair of right hands in the eighth, but by then was already in a deep hole on the scorecards. Nicolson clung briefly and adjusted her approach. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics quarter-finalist drew a floundering Chapman with finesse and connected with power shots in those moments.
The direction in Chapman’s corner heading into the final round was clear – she needed a knockout. That moment never came close as Nicolson’s boxing skills were far too superior. Nicolson landed a flush left hand inside the final ten seconds for good measure.
With the win, Nicolson moved to 12-0 (1 knockout) to defend her title for the second time.
Chapman (9-1, 2 KOs) suffered her first loss 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 be broadcast live on ESPN+.