Australia's Skye Nicolson has recorded a unanimous decision victory over Dyana Vargas in Philadelphia on Saturday, retaining her WBC featherweight title in dominant fashion.
Nicolson was barely touched through 10 rounds, pitching a shutout on all three judges' cards (100-90 x3) to turn back the challenge of Vargas, seemingly without breaking a sweat.
While she couldn't get the stoppage victory, Nicolson's stocks continue to rise on the back of the one-sided beatdown in which she outlanded her opponent 135 to 29, seeing her professional record improve to 11-0.
MORE: Sporting News' Women's Pound-For-Pound Rankings
“I think I showed a little bit more spite, showed a little bit more I could do," Nicolson told DAZN post-fight.
“I knew she was going to be dangerous, especially early on, she wasn’t as aggressive as we’d prepared for and expected.
"I definitely wanted to keep my shape, pick my shots and go through the gears as we went through the fight and I feel like I stuck to that plan.
“I’ll be honest, my lead hand was getting a little bit sore from all the jabs I was landing so I had to start throwing the left hand, but it forced me to do more so it was a good thing.”
From the opening round, Nicolson appeared to have the class advantage, quickly finding a home for her jab as Vargas looked to bob and weave into range unsuccessfully.
The Queenslander also let her rear hand go on a couple of occasions to put a stamp on the first two minutes.
Vargas, who'd only tasted defeat once in 20 professional bouts, came out more aggressively in the second round but Nicolson was comfortable, popping out her jab and evading the challenger's wide shots.
It was more of the same in the third, with Vargas having few answers to Nicolson's movement and jab, seeing the Dominican fighter attempt to goad her opponent into a more reckless fight.
Nicolson mixed in a few more left hands in the fourth as Vargas was often left swinging wildly at thin air.
By the fifth, Vargas was visibly frustrated and Nicolson walked her onto a hard left hand, the most significant punch of the fight, wobbling her opponent and briefly following up with some more aggression before the bell rang to close out the round.
Skye Nicolson lands clean to end the 5th round 👀#EnnisAvanesyan | Tonight | Live on DAZN pic.twitter.com/GUnuosxRA0
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) July 14, 2024
The pattern continued over the next few rounds, Nicolson scoring with ones and twos while Vargas marched forward without strategy or success.
To her credit, Vargas kept coming despite being significantly outskilled.
Nicolson will be disappointed to have been taken the distance and while critics may point to her low finish rate, she was plenty aggressive without being careless in this one.
That was evident in the final round when she opened up a cut under Vargas' left eye with some extremely clean boxing at range.
Having dominated the preceding 20 minutes Nicolson played up to the crowd and Vargas through the final stages, sealing yet another dominant victory and the first defence of her full world title.
Nicolson has long been calling for a fight with former undisputed featherweight champion Amanda Serrano but she appears to be leaving those hopes behind for the time being.
“I’m not even bothering with those other three belts right now, there’s absolutely no interest from [Serrano],” she said, before naming two potential future opponents.
“There’s huge, great fights to be made in the featherweight division without her. Raven Chapman, Tiara Brown, I want the smoke, let’s go.”
In the main event, Jaron "Boots" Ennis will make his Matchroom debut, looking to defend his IBF welterweight title against David Ananesyan in his hometown.
