Australia’s Skye Nicolson wants her fight on December 13 with Yuliahn Luna Avila to lead to an undisputed junior-featherweight title fight with Ellie Scotney.
Nicolson and Avila, of Mexico, are to fight on the undercard of the appealing super-middleweight match-up between Diego Pacheco and Kevin Lele Sadjo at the Stockton Arena in Stockton, California, where they will contest the interim WBC title.
Scotney, the IBF, WBO and WBC champion, had been on course to fight the WBA titlist Mayelli Flores on the undercard of the farcical exhibition between Jake Paul and Gervonta Davis on November 14 until an injury forced her withdrawal. They are regardless expected to fight on a future date, by when the holder of the WBC interim title would be on course to challenge the winner.
If it had previously been tempting to conclude that England’s Scotney was keener on a fight between them than Nicolson, the 30-year-old Nicolson has since sought to put herself directly in her path. Having moved down in weight following her defeat in March by Tiara Brown she has also taken steps to be as prepared as possible for what would be expected to prove her biggest test.
There had previously been suggestions that the UK-based Australian would fight in her home country a week earlier on the undercard of Jai Opetaia-Huseyin Cinkara, but by fighting in the US – Scotney is promoted by the US-based Most Valuable Promotions – she is perhaps enhancing her marketability in the context of what she describes as a “super fight” with Scotney instead.
“They’re the kind of fights I’ve been chasing,” she told BoxingScene. “They’re the kind of fights I want to be in. I want to be fighting big names. I’ve been in the position to fight the big names a couple of times now and it hasn’t happened – it’s fallen through. Not from my side, but [a date with Scotney’s] a really good fight that can be made.
“It’s really one of those fights that’s a great clash of styles, and we would make a great fight. To be able to do that for undisputed, with all the belts would be huge.
“Winning this fight [against Avila] would make me mandatory [challenger] for the WBC world title which could ultimately be for an undisputed fight, because obviously Ellie’s one belt off going undisputed. It’s probably considered, nowadays, a super fight.
“But I wanted a good opponent as well. I felt like it was important. I had those last two fights, back-to-back [victories in July and August over Carla Camila Campos Gonzales then Urvashi Singh], that were very comfortable. I really just want to put together everything I’ve learned and took from the experience in March into a real fight now.
“In the last two fights I was able to see what went wrong and try new things and get it right. I really feel like I did that. I went into both those fights in July and August feeling the best I’ve ever felt going into a fight – not just physically but mentally, as well. And going in with a different mindset; going in with more intent. I never really went into fights with the intent to hurt my opponents, and stop my opponents and get them out of there. That’s changed now. That’s been a bit of a lightbulb moment for me.
“I’m really excited. This girl is going to be a really good test for me. She’s very experienced. She’s had 35 professional fights. She’s been pro for a long time. And I’m excited for the challenge. She’s never been stopped. I’m going in with the intent to stop her. If it comes, it comes – happy days. But I think it’s going to be a very high-level fight and I think that’s what’s going to bring out the best in me.”
After a period in which the development of women’s boxing had stalled, largely owing to the influence of the considerable investment into the sport from Saudi Arabia, Nicolson is also relishing the reality that her fight with the 31-year-old Avila will be her fourth in nine months.
“I took a cut in money to be more active, unfortunately,” she said. “But I prefer it that way, to be honest. Each camp, getting that momentum and building on that, going into the next camp has been so much better for me than having that time out of the ring.
“I’m grateful to be able to get out again before the end of the year and have a big finish to a big, busy year. Those last two fights both ended in the second round, so I didn’t really get that many rounds, but I spent a lot of time in the gym this year, so that has been really, really good for me.”
