Skye Nicolson defended her WBC women’s featherweight title with a convincing and technically excellent masterclass against England’s Raven Lawson, but many fans attended the spectacle.
Nicolson retained her title with another classy effort, winning 99-91 on one card and 98-92 on the other two.
Her jab, footwork and accurate power shots were too slick for seventh-ranked Chapman, who landed the occasional punch but couldn’t maintain any pressure.
After a few easy rounds, Nicolson started to find her range and had no problems in the second defense of her title.
However, the Australian star’s strategy failed to impress many fans who wanted to see more action.
“Skye Nicholson the most boring world champion in boxing history,” one fan posted on X.
“Pillow fist Nicolson is the most boring fighter alive,” another posted.
A third account posted: ‘Every time I see Sky Nicolson fight I’m not impressed. she is always chasing the head, only throwing single shots and not going to the body. always running. downright boring!’
Australian star Skye Nicolson has defended her world title
The slick southpaw has drawn backlash from some fans for a ‘boring’ spectacle
There was also plenty of praise for the Australian’s skill level.
‘GREAT performance from Skye Nicolson. She might be the best pure boxer in women’s boxing,” one fan posted on X
Another wrote: ‘All the people in these comments yelling about being ‘boring’.. should Skye Nicolson apologize because she’s fucking better than any opponent in her division? Sit back and enjoy the greatness, because that’s what we’re watching.”
Nicolson was very excited about the win.
“Happy with the win, there’s so much more to do so I’m excited,” Nicolson told DAZN.
“We’ve barely scratched the surface. They keep thinking they’ve cracked the code, but the code seems to remain uncracked.
Nicolson’s jab and footwork and accurate power punches were too much for Chapman
Jai Opetaia retained his IBF cruiserweight boxing title with an excellent performance
‘I felt sharp. I had to beat her. I think that was an important part of our game plan,” added Nicolson, who wants 17-0 third-ranked American Tiara Brown to be her next challenger.
On the same card, Jai Opetaia retained his IBF cruiserweight boxing title with a masterful performance, stopping English challenger Jack Massey in the sixth round in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Opetaia dominated throughout with his fast hands, slicing his opponent’s face and slamming him into the body.
European and Commonwealth champion Massey (22-3 12 KOs), who went 10 rounds at heavyweight with former champion Joseph Parker last year, showed plenty of toughness and landed a number of right hands but was broken down by a brutal opponent.
Opetaia upped the pace in the fifth, with Massey in 10th sporting a spot under one eye and bleeding from the nose.
Two minutes into the sixth round, Massey’s corner threw in the towel to spare their man further punishment.
Opetaia had the commentators purring about a performance that was described as flawless, brutal and nasty.
From Massey’s corner the towel was thrown in to end the match at the Kingdom Arena
Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs) remained on course for a title fight against the winner of next month’s fight between Britain’s WBO champion Chris Billam-Smith and Mexico’s Gilberto Ramirez.
“I hope that happens, man,” Opetaia said after the first defense of his second title reign.
“I felt good, I knew Jack was coming to fight, I have nothing but respect for him.
“I would like to say a huge thank you to my entire team, we had to overcome a number of obstacles to reach this ring
“So many ups and downs, but we stayed steadfast, we stuck together and we got the win.”