Skye Nicolson and Raven Chapman will break new floor within the Center East.
The primary girls’s bout to grace a Riyadh Season present is now in place. Australia’s Nicolson is about for a harmful protection of her WBC featherweight title versus England’s Chapman. The scheduled ten-round contest is about for Oct. 12, on the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol undercard at Kingdom Area in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Information of the struggle was revealed by Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the nation’s Basic Leisure Authority. The occasion is a part of the continuing Riyadh Season boxing sequence, which debuted final Oct. 28.
Six reveals have taken place so far, together with its Aug. 3 U.S. debut. The UK launch begins Sept. 21, headlined by the Daniel Dubois-Anthony Joshua IBF heavyweight title struggle at Wembley Stadium in London.
It’s been nothing however exhausting legs amongst greater than 60 bouts to grace these seven playing cards, pending further bouts on the Sept. 21 present. Nicolson-Chapman is the one girls’s boxing match among the many revealed eight-fight lineup for Oct. 12.
Nonetheless, it’s a groundbreaking second that warrants recognition and in a terrific matchup. Nicolson (11-0, 1 knockout), 28, is The Ring’s No. 1-rated featherweight. Chapman (9-0, 2 KOs), 30, is No. 5.
The pairing was in dialogue relationship again to when each had been nonetheless rising contenders. Nicolson—a Yatala, Australia native who trains in England—upped the ante first when she claimed the interim WBC featherweight title.
The 2020 Olympic quarterfinalist outpointed Sabrina Maribel Perez over ten rounds final Sept. 15 in Tijuana, Mexico. One profitable protection adopted earlier than the chance arose to problem for the complete model of the belt vacated by RING/unified champ Amanda Serrano (47-2-1, 31 KOs).
Nicolson pitched a ten-round digital shutout over former IBF titleholder Sarah Mahfoud (14-2, 3 KOs) to improve her crown on April 6 in Las Vegas. The Aussie southpaw retained the title after successful all ten rounds versus Dyana Vargas (19-2, 12 KOs) on July 13 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Her terrific run has come by means of simply two-plus years as a professional.
Chapman (9-0, 2 KOs) can also be an early bloomer as she enters her first profession title struggle.
The gifted boxer from Excessive Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, UK has drawn favorable evaluations since her Sept. 2021 debut. A major enhance in competitors got here in simply her fourth professional struggle. Chapman outlasted former title challenger Jorgelina Guarini (10-5-2, 1 KO) on a Sept. 2022 present that noticed Serrano defeat Mahfoud of their WBC/IBF/WBO unification bout.
The rise to title competition continued with credible wins over then-unbeaten Lila dos Santos Furtado and Yohana Salabia throughout the previous twelve months.
Placement of this struggle in Riyadh is a primary—and hopefully not solely—step in direction of the sequence’ organizers recognizing girls in boxing. The nation’s gender equality legal guidelines have solely just lately advanced throughout the previous few years however nonetheless have a protracted method to go.
