Skye Nicolson defended her WBC women’s featherweight title with a convincing and technically excellent masterclass over England’s Raven Lawson – but many fans have hit out at 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 and footwork and accurate power punching were too slick for seventh-ranked Chapman, who landed the occasional punch but couldn’t maintain any pressure.
After a couple of quiet rounds to start with Nicolson started to find her range and was untroubled in the second defence of her title.
However, the Aussie star’s strategy didn’t impress a lot of fans who wanted to see more action.
‘Skye Nicholson the most boring world champion in the history of boxing,’ posted one fan on X.
‘Pillow fists Nicolson the most boring fighter out there,’ posted another.
A third account posted: ‘Everytime i watch Sky Nicolson fight, i’m not impressed. she’s always head hunting, only throwing single shots, doesn’t go to the body. always running. straight boring!’
Aussie star Skye Nicolson has defended her world title
The slick southpaw has copped backlash from some fans for a ‘boring’ spectacle
There was also plenty of praise for the Aussie’s level of skill.
‘GREAT performance from Skye Nicolson. She’s arguably the best pure boxer in women’s boxing,’ posted one fan on X
Another posted: ‘All the people in these comments shouting about ‘boring’.. should Skye Nicolson be apologising for being f**king miles better than any opponent in her division?? Just sit back and enjoy the greatness, cos that’s what we’re watching.’
Nicolson was very elated with the victory.
‘Happy to get the win, there’s still so much more to go, 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 punching 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 to the punch I feel like that was a big key part in 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 has 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, cutting up his opponent’s face and hammering him to 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 some right hands, but was broken down by a relentless opponent.
Opetaia stepped up the pace in the fifth, with 10th-ranked Massey marked under an 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 over a performance described as flawless, ruthless and nasty.
The towel was thrown in from Massey’s corner to end the contest at the Kingdom Arena
Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs) remained on course for a title unification fight against the winner of next month’s bout between Britain’s WBO champion Chris Billam-Smith and Mexico’s Gilberto Ramirez.
‘I’m hoping that comes man,’ Opetaia said after the first defence of his second title reign.
‘I felt good, I knew Jack was going to come to fight, I’ve nothing but respect for him.
‘I want to say a massive thank you to my whole team, we’ve had to jump through some hurdles to get to this ring
‘So many ups and downs but we stayed staunch, we stayed together and we got the win.’
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