Skye Nicolson wants Amanda Serrano next.
On Saturday night, Nicolson retained her WBC interim featherweight title with a ninth-round TKO over Lucy Wildheart on the undercard of the Katie Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron 2 event. The win was Nicolson’s ninth since turning pro less than two years ago and her first stoppage. The win also should set her up to face Serrano next, and that’s exactly what Nicolson is hoping for.
“We’ll see,” Nicolson said Monday on The MMA Hour. “Obviously I want the Serrano fight. She’s the champion in my division. I want to be world champion. I want to prove to the world that I’m the best and I want to do that by beating the best. Every time I call out Serrano, it’s never because I disrespect her or don’t think she’s good or whatever. I want to fight the best. That’s why I’m calling her out. I want to show my levels. I want to prove that I’m worthy. That’s why I call her out.
“I know that 90 percent of people write me off in that fight, and I do not care. I believe I win that fight, my team believes I win that fight, my style is all wrong for her. I keep saying this. But it’s OK. I don’t want to talk about it, I want to prove it. I want the fight. The ball’s going to be in her court. I’m going to be her mandatory and it’s going to be completely up to her whether she takes the fight or whether she leaves the belt. For me, I want that fight. I don’t want to fight for a vacant title against somebody else. I want to beat the best.”
Unfortunately for Nicolson, at this point it seems unlikely she’ll get her wish. With a 46-2-1 record in her professional career and status as the current undisputed featherweight champion of the world, Serrano is one of the biggest stars in women’s boxing, and rumors are currently circulating about a high-profile rematch with Katie Taylor sometime next year. On top of that, Serrano is also signed to the PFL and has suggested she will make her promotional debut sometime in 2024. That doesn’t leave much time for Nicolson — and Serrano basically said as much, shooting down talks of the fight on Twitter.
I have other plans & a full schedule
GoodLuck to her— Amanda Serrano (@Serranosisters) November 27, 2023
But Nicolson hasn’t fully given up hope yet.
“I haven’t lost all hope,” Nicolson said. “I feel like when the mandatory order is made and she’s actually asked, will you fight her or will you vacate, and she actually has to make that choice, maybe she might turn around and say, ‘Oh well, she’s asked for it, she’s going to get it.’ We’ll see. But I don’t know at this point.”
Nicolson also recognizes that she’s left to the whims of Serrano in all of this, saying she would accept the fight under nearly any circumstances offered, just so long as the fight happens.
“Ideally, I would like probably April,” Nicolson said. “I’ve had obviously a very busy nine fights in 18 months, so a little bit of down time now and then obviously if I’m fighting the queen of boxing, I would like a full preparation from the New Year. So I think April would be a really good time, but beggars can’t be choosers at this point. I want the fight. Anywhere, any time. I just want the opportunity to show the world.”
And if she somehow gets the chance to do prove herself, Nicolson is supremely confident that she will hand Serrano her first loss at 126 pounds.
“I believe that my style upsets her because I’m not going to stand in front of her,” Nicolson said. “She’s flat-footed. She’s strong. Very aggressive, very strong, but she’s flat-footed. She’s got slow feet and she looks good against someone who stands and trades with her, and that’s not what I would do. I would use angles, I would box and move, I will set traps, I’ll walk her onto shots, I’ll have her walking onto the ropes, and making her look silly. That’s what I do to my opponents and that’s why so many people keep saying, ‘Skye hasn’t fought anyone good.’
“No, actually, I’m better. You just don’t see it, because I make people look bad.”
