Skye Nicolson is — by her own admission — still fully coming to terms with her first professional loss, but that isn’t stopping her from chasing more accolades.
Nicolson (12-1, 1 KOs) fell to her first career defeat to Tiara Brown (18-0, 11 KOs) in March, losing her WBC featherweight title on home soil in Sydney on a split decision.
Seeing your unbeaten record go is tough for any boxer and while it’s something the 29-year-old is still working through — she is taking the positives out of the experience and has her sights set on the next challenge.
Since the Brown fight, Nicolson and her team opted for a move down to junior featherweight; a journey which starts on Saturday against Carla Camila Campos Gonzales in Manchester.
While a win is vital, it is a fight that means so much more than just the result to the Aussie.
“Obviously, coming off my first professional defeat, this one’s really important for me to not just prove to the world, but prove to myself what I’m really about,” Nicolson told ESPN.
“I didn’t feel like I made a great account of myself in my last performance, so for me it’s just about writing those wrongs.”
The move down to 122 pounds will bring physical challenges, but Nicolson has also put huge effort into the mental side of the sport in the last three months.
“I’m so grateful for the setbacks and pain that have made me a stronger, more resilient person that I am today. I think even just sitting with that before bed last night and thinking, wow, I’m actually grateful for s—– things that have happened,” she says.
Brown was aggressive and boisterous in the build up to their bout. While Nicolson admits it did have an impact, she feels mentally stronger ahead of the next chapter of her career.
As a face of women’s boxing, the spotlight can be harsh; something else Nicolson didn’t full appreciate before the brown fight.
“It’s been a great shift in mindset and I think something that was definitely missing from my preparation before: That inner work, that mental work, that it does take a lot of work,” Nicolson says.
“I feel like I did get thrown into the spotlight a bit when I turned over and I wasn’t really prepared for everything that came with that. The good and the bad, the pressure and the expectation, the negative comments, the positive comments.
“Sometimes people forget you’re a human being as well, and you have feelings and you still have to process all those things on top of preparing for a fight, preparing for the pressure, the homecoming, all of the things that came with March 22nd and as physically prepared as I was.”
Now, it’s about looking forward to more big fights.
“Obviously to be a two-time world champion is going to be amazing, but I’m not rushing it,” she says.
“I’m not going to rush this process at all. I’d love to get out in another two or three eight rounders and then start looking at title fights, but the landscape’s always changing as well.”
Source: espn.com