Boxer Skye Nicolson is in a predicament. The Australian faces American Tiara Brown in Sydney on Saturday in defence of her WBC world featherweight title. Both fighters are undefeated in the pro ranks, and the bout promises to be the highlight of the evening at Qudos Bank Arena, even if George Kambosos Jr is the nominal headliner in a fight against late replacement Jake Wyllie.
But Nicolson – a former Commonwealth Games gold medal winner and Olympian, the first woman to compete for a world title in Saudi Arabia, and one of the most marketable faces in female boxing – is at the mercy of greater forces than even Brown’s punishing fists, which have secured 11 KOs in 18 bouts.
“There is so much more to boxing than just being able to fight in the ring,” Nicolson says. “You have to be able to sell a show, you have to be able to get people intrigued, get people interested in what you’re doing.”
Nicolson’s follower count on Instagram is hurtling towards half a million, some 20 times that of her American challenger. She has an unblemished record from 12 pro fights, but her posts and promotion have helped women’s boxing reach new audiences.
“I’m constantly posting about my fights, but I’m also posting about my training, my day-to-day life, letting people in on the story, getting people excited so they can feel like they’re part of the journey,” she says. “And I think that’s how we’re going to grow [women’s boxing].”
But the 29-year-old has faced direct accusations from Brown, and whispers from others, that she has been undeserving of her opportunities, that she has been “spoon-fed”. The insinuation is that Nicolson’s fighting craft could not have elevated her to her current status by itself.
“The allegation is people are only following me and interested in me because I’m pretty and not because I can fight. She [Brown] believes my fan base is based off what they see on social media, and not me as a fighter,” Nicolson says. “She’s going to learn very quickly in that fight [on Saturday] that you can’t be spoon-fed the things that I’ve achieved.”
Watch the wily Australian, and her deft balance, sharp agility and powerful left hand are obvious. As a southpaw counter-puncher, Nicolson has mastered timing and her opponents’ tendencies, and in recent bouts has gone rounds between feeling a punch. The style has prompted Brown, a more physical, orthodox fighter, to describe the Australian as “Sonic the Hedgehog” after the videogame character’s propensity to run.
That barb among many this week has pushed Nicolson to her limit. The Queenslander, who now lives in the UK, snapped back at Brown and described her as “disrespectful”. The American refused to shake hands at the pre-fight press conference.
“Yes, I have been given opportunities to fight good girls,” Nicolson says. “But I’ve also had to beat them, I’ve also had to win. I’ve also trained and been in boxing since I was 12 years old, a lot of that’s ignored or brushed to the side.”
Nicolson grew up on the Gold Coast in a family grieving the loss of her two brothers before she was born. Jamie, aged 22, and Gavin, 10, died in a car accident. Her elder sibling had already proven himself as a fine amateur boxer, and there was a sense of inevitability in Skye following her brother’s path.
Her amateur career delivered both success, including gold at her home Commonwealth Games in 2018, and failure. She was reduced to tears after losing at the Tokyo Olympics, a moment that turned her down the professional path.
“I love this side of boxing that I didn’t have in the amateurs. All the build up in fight week, the press conferences, the media workouts, the weigh-ins, that ‘show’ side of it all, which quite surprised me,” she says. “Boxing for Australia at the Commonwealth Games and Olympics, everything was very regimented and different to the more showmanship side of professional boxing.”
But at the pointy end of the industry, competition is fierce. The more Nicolson elevates her profile and promotes the sport, the greater the jealousy from others. So-called fans are happy to join the online pile on. “They can hide behind fake names, they can hide behind ghost profiles and say whatever they want,” she says. “I read a lot into it earlier on, I read every comment on every post, and yeah, it did bother me, and it did upset me, and it definitely affected me a lot. But now I just don’t even read it, and if I do see anything I just laugh at it.”
Women’s boxing is growing in popularity, but Nicolson believes it still isn’t given the respect it deserves. Her October victory over Raven Chapman in Saudi Arabia was seen as a major step towards a larger presence of women on boxing’s biggest stages, such as the glitzy Riyadh Season events.
However, Nicolson says progress has stalled. “It’s something the women’s boxing community has really been pushing for, and it’s just a very clear absence from these huge events. Since that fight in October, we’ve had a few more Riyadh Season cards, and we’re still not seeing women’s boxing, and it’s just so frustrating.”
Speaking out in the tight-knit world of boxing comes with consequences, but Nicolson isn’t pulling punches. She says it’s up to both the “top bosses” in Saudi Arabia as well as the promoters working with them. “It needs to be a prerequisite, we need to be having women’s fights on these cards,” she says. “I think people are probably too scared to speak up to the bosses in Saudi. I don’t know what it is, but something needs to change.”
