Skye High: Skye Nicolson Is Almost Flawless On Broken Points Defeats Raven Chapman To Retain WBC Title
Skye Nicolson celebrates October 12 defeating Raven Chapman to retain the WBC featherweight title in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Credit: Leigh Dawney/Queensberry Promotions
Skye Nicolson lived up to her promise to bring one home to Matchroom Boxing.
The highly gifted Australian southpaw retained his WBC 126-pound title with a unanimous decision victory over England’s Raven Chapman. Scores of 99-91, 98-92 and 98-92 for Nicolson in their undefeated featherweight bout Saturday at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Nicolson-Chapman marked the first female fight to appear on the Riyadh Season show since the launch of the series last October. It worked in support of the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitrii Bivol RING/undisputed light heavyweight championship.
With his excellent performance, Nicolson allowed Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing to finally win against Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions. Their head-to-head matchup in the Riyadh Season round was a big one for Warren. Nicolson vowed to lift that curse and fulfilled that promise.
Chapman spent most of the game looking for a home run shot. Nicolson provided consistent consistent movement and his footwork provided a constant presence for his straight left hands. Chapman struggled to adapt to the tactics handed down by one of the best pure boxers in the sport.
Nicolson was cruising until Chapman landed a hot right hand late in the third. It was met with a counter left by Nicolson but gave a glimmer of hope for a competitive fight.
That quickly changed as Nicolson regained the space he desired in the fourth and never looked back. He continued to find a straight home on the left side and sneaked to the left side whenever he was around.
Chapman landed some right hands in the eighth but was already in a deep hole on the scorecards at that point. Nicolson held back and corrected his approach. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics quarterfinalist drew a plodding Chapman with feints and connected with powerful shots on those occasions.
Chapman’s corner’s path to the final round was clear—he needed a knockdown. That moment never came close to happening, as Nicolson’s boxing skills were at their peak. Nicolson landed a pounding left hand for good measure inside the final ten seconds.
Nicolson moved to 12-0 (1 knockout) with the win to defend his title for the second time.
Chapman (9-1, 2 KOs) suffered his first loss in what was also his major league debut.
Nicolson-Chapman was part of an undercard—for reasons only DAZN can explain—that aired live on DAZN pay-per-view. The Beterbiev-Bivol main event will air live on ESPN+.
