Skye Nicolson is confident that she is about to transform her career – and do so with or without the benefit of a showdown with Ellie Scotney.
She will defend her WBC interim junior featherweight title against her fellow Australian Mariah Turner on Wednesday at the Melbourne Pavilion in Melbourne, Australia, and will be the lead attraction as Matchroom relaunches in her home country with the influential broadcaster FOX Sports.
Nicolson is already recognized as one of the world’s highest-profile fighters, but the lucrative opportunities she has sought have regardless long evaded her, and it is that that she believes is about to change.
When she sacrificed her WBC featherweight title to Tiara Brown in March 2025 after a period in which she missed out on a homecoming fight in Queensland, she was forced to rebuild. But three victories on, and under a new broadcaster, she believes she has far greater hopes of realizing her dreams.
That Matchroom is no longer promoting Jai Opetaia has also enhanced Nicolson’s significance in the context of its ambitions in Australia, and it is that growing significance that she believes can be crucial as, at the age of 30, she targets a defining fight.
“Those big dream fights that felt like a dream or a fantasy a couple of years ago feel like they could be on the horizon now,” she told BoxingScene. “Headliners against the likes of Amanda Serrano – something like that would be unbelievable. It definitely feels within reach now.
“FOX Sports in Australia – I’m going to be on free-to-air TV nationally, which opens up the sport to a new audience. That’s what I’m most excited for, as well with this new deal with Matchroom.
“They haven’t elaborated too much on how it’ll look for me personally. I think the plan with Matchroom and my brand is still very much global, but bringing big fights to Australia will be key in this new deal with Matchroom and FOX Sports. I know that I’ll definitely be a big part of that, but the plan will still be to have me fighting in the UK and US as well.
“It’s always been part of what I’ve wanted – to bring big fights to Australia and get more eyeballs on the sport in Australia. It’s very exciting for me, and headlining here is very special – I don’t necessarily see myself headlining in the UK or the US unless I’m fighting another big name from the UK or US. [But] I have the opportunity to become a household name in Australia.”
Nicolson was then asked about how confident she was in securing the showdown with the undisputed champion Scotney, from England, that has long been speculated about, and she said: “Money talks, and that fight can 100 per cent be made. I know that she’s already talking about featherweight, but she’s been talking about featherweight for the last two years, and she’s stuck around. It’s going to be up to her – if she wants to fight me, that fight is so there to be made. If she doesn’t want to fight me, she will use the excuse of moving up to 126.
“I think she’s going to move up to 126, unfortunately. But it would be much more ideal for her to stay and have one more fight at 122 first and have a big undisputed showdown. But I will not be surprised in the slightest if that doesn’t happen. It happened to me before against Amanda Serrano when I was her mandatory, and it’s more than likely going to happen again.”
Asked about the 31-year-old Turner, she then responded: “She’s good. I’m a level above her, but she’s a good opponent. She’s well schooled; she comes from a Muay Thai background, but she’s been in fighting sports for years. She’s a balanced, patient fighter – and a bit of a boxer-fighter as well, who’s ready to box on the back foot but can also be quite aggressive. She picks her shots well.
“There’s not a lot of video on her, so there’s a lot less analysis that can be done on her compared to other opponents I’ve had. But I’ve seen enough and watched enough to know what I’m dealing with.
“I’m a very instinctive fighter. I go in there and go off reaction a lot of the time anyway, but I’ll always look at some video and study my opponent, so that when I do go in there’s nothing super-unknown. I won’t go in there and be like ‘I’m gonna feint to the head and jab to the body.’ Everything I do in the ring is very reactive to what’s happening in front of me. But I’ll go into the fight knowing, ‘She drops her lead hand when she throws her back hand,’ and little things like that.”
Declan Warrington has been writing about boxing for the British and Irish national newspapers since 2010. He is also a long-term contributor to Boxing News, Boxing News Presents and Talksport, and formerly the boxing correspondent for the Press Association, a pundit for BoxNation and a regular contributor to Boxing Monthly, Sport and The Ring, among other publications. In 2023, he conducted the interviews and wrote the script for the audio documentary “Froch-Groves: The Definitive Story”; he is also a member of the BWAA.
