Australia’s Skye Nicolson retained her WBC featherweight title with a comfortable unanimous decision victory over the UK’s Raven Chapman in Riyadh.
Making history as the first women’s world title fight in Saudi Arabia, Nicolson was a class above on the way to the win, earning cards of 98-92 twice and 99-91.
The Queensland southpaw has now defended the strap twice and continues to enhance her reputation as a dominant force in the division.
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Chapman, unbeaten in nine fights coming in, looked to get busy early with plenty of upper body movement but Nicolson, in typical style, proved too elusive.
The champion, who moved to 12-0, picked off Chapman with single counters, looking for straight lefts and uppercuts, as well as right hooks as she spun out of danger.
Chapman remained game throughout but the gulf in quality was clear from the early stages and Nicolson was able to cruise through for an easy victory.
“Tiara Brown,” Nicolson told DAZN when asked what’s next.
“She said she’s the smoke, she said she wants the smoke.
“It’s the fight to make. Let’s get it on.”
Here’s how it all went down:
Nicolson claims a comfortable unanimous decision victory (98-92 x2, 99-91).
Take a look at how we saw it below:
Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Total |
Nicolson | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 98 |
Chapman | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 92 |
Round 10: A great finish by the champion who keeps Chapman off her and lands some nice shots to put an exclamation point on the performance.
Round 9: Better round for Chapman who is getting more aggressive now, as she needs to.
Round 8: Chapman lands a couple shots in that round but nothing to bother Nicolson who remains in cruise control.
Round 7: Nicolson dominating now, although Chapman hasn’t been hurt. The champ’s counters have stopped Chapman’s offence.
Round 6: Comfortable round for Nicolson who continues to pick Chapman off with sharp counters.
Round 5: Nicolson edges that one but Chapman still got plenty of fight left in her.
Round 4: Another one for the champion but closer that time. Nicolson timing Chapman on the entry with single shots.
Round 3: Much more action that round as Nicolson sits down on some left hands straight through the middle, briefly stumbling Chapman on one occasion.
Round 2: Better round from the challenger who gets through with a couple right hands to pinch it.
Round 1: Nice start from Nicolson, who manages to score with some shots at range as Chapman looks to enter. Plenty of movement from Chapman but nothing significant landed.
4:50am AEDT: Nicolson is making her way to the ring now. Fight starting imminently.
Skye Nicolson vs. Raven Chapman will air on DAZN in Australia as part of the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol fight card. The whole card can be watched on any device, including Smart TVs, video game consoles, phones, tablets and laptops.
WATCH: Skye Nicolson vs. Raven Chapman on DAZN
The main card starts at 3 a.m. AEDT on Sunday. Skye Nicolson and Raven Chapman should make their way to the ring around 5 a.m. AEDT. Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol should make their way to the ring around 9 a.m. AEDT, depending on how long the undercard fights last.