Aussie boxing star turns Tokyo Olympic heartbreak into blistering pro career
By Emma Kemp
Skye Nicolson finished her Tokyo 2021 campaign sobbing, narrowly beaten to Australia’s first Olympic boxing medal since 1988 and gutted to the point that her new status as her country’s most successful female boxer “means nothing”.
The featherweight walked out of the ring and let all her emotions out for the TV cameras, then forced her mind to shift from the gold medal she felt she should have won at her debut Games to the one she knew she would win in Paris three years later.
Skye Nicolson (right) in action against Karriss Artingstall at the Tokyo Olympics.Credit: Getty Images
“After Tokyo, my immediate new goal was Paris,” Nicolson said. “I definitely felt I had unfinished business, and the only reason I turned professional was because I knew that I could still go back and do Paris and do the Olympics.”
At the time, Nicolson planned to capitalise on a 2016 rule change that allowed professional boxers to contest the Olympics where they had previously been prohibited. But then she learnt what it actually meant to transition from amateur to pro. That fights would now be 10 rounds instead of three, and preparation would be a gruelling 12-week camp for a single match instead of competing and weighing in on back-to-back days.
“I went into the pro game quite naive, about boxing and amateur boxing just being the same thing, that I could just go between the two and quickly learnt that it’s a very, very different ball game,” Nicolson said on Friday from Philadelphia, where she will defend her featherweight world title against Dominican Dyana Vargas this weekend.
“They’re two completely different sports. It’s like being a 100-metre sprinter and a marathon runner – you can’t do both. So my goals and dreams and ambition all changed in that first year of the pro.
Skye Nicolson breaks down in tears after losing in the quarter-finals at the Tokyo Olympics.Credit: Getty
“It was a decision I made about 12 months ago, when the qualifying process was starting for the Australian boxing team, and I didn’t have that same dream any more. I’d adapted my style and changed so much in that first year of the pro that it would just be a big backward step for me at that point.
“I was one or two fights away from becoming mandatory for Amanda Serrano to be fighting for world titles, and it would’ve meant putting all of that on hold for another year to a year and a half again.
“I was on the fence for months, but I just felt like, if I don’t want to jump out of bed every morning to chase the Olympic gold medal, it’s never going to happen anyway.”
Nicolson, 28, will attend the Paris Games as a supporter, content with having burst onto the pro scene. The 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist held the interim WBC featherweight title to start 2023, and in April 2024 won the vacant title against Sarah Mahfoud to bring her career record to 10-0.
The actual boxing has never been a problem for the London-based Queenslander, who is represented by well-known British promoter Eddie Hearn. She just wasn’t sure she would warm to the commercial element after being “ingrained in the amateur system” for so long.
“I was all about just the straight-playing red and blue kits,” she said. “There was no walkout song or music, none of this showbiz stuff; there’s no telling your opponent what you’re going to do to them and stuff like that.
“But I’ve really taken it in my stride and absolutely loved it. I actually couldn’t imagine my life being any different now. I do feel like I’ve been a lot more in the public eye, and it has definitely grown my audience and my social media following.”
That spike in profile – Nicolson has amassed almost 350,000 Instagram followers – has been particularly marked in the UK and US, where she has gained so much traction that fans pointed out her chosen walkout song – INXS’s New Sensation – was becoming redundant. Much of the attention has been positive, but some she has had to “take with a grain of salt”.
“Just girls coming out saying they want to fight me, that I’m running from them or hiding from them,” she said. “I’ve never run or hidden from any fight – I’ve been chasing all the best fights since I turned professional.
“And with the fans you can never win. Some people really are boxing purists and appreciate the hit-and-not-get-hit style, and then there are the ones who would call that style boring and just want to see blood.
“I’ve definitely had to learn for myself that you’re never going to be everyone’s cup of tea, you’re never going to be everyone’s favourite fighter, and all you can do is keep winning and being the best version of yourself.”
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.