Although a Katie Taylor rematch is possible, unified featherweight world champion Amanda Serrano now has new business at 126lbs after Australia’s Skye Nicolson cruised to seize a vacant title overnight. This proved a largely challenging night for Matchroom – Diego Pacheco and Richardson Hitchins fortunate to escape with their unbeaten records still intact in Las Vegas.
Nicolson notches WBC world title in 10th fight
100-90, 100-90, 99-91: Skye Nicolson bt. Sarah Mahfoud via unanimous decision, wins vacant WBC featherweight title
- On her latest achievement and Amanda Serrano unification talks: “It means everything, I know what I can do and keep proving it in the ring. I’m ready when she is, nothing personal but I find it funny she waited until I was her mandatory to say that [she would only box 12×3-minute rounds going forward]… talk to my team and we’ll make it happen.”
- Rough: DAZN broadcast declared post-fight that Mahfoud landed four or less punches in nine of their ten completed rounds as she struggled to get to grips with Skye’s southpaw stance and distance management
- Claressa Shields’ verdict on a Serrano-Nicolson matchup: “She’ll have to switch her style, stay long and defensive but keep your hands up because Amanda’s a big puncher… a lot more feints and head movement. Skye has some [physical] gifts but it’d be a war, Amanda boxes like a Mexican – doesn’t care about getting cut or eating shots unlike Mahfoud.”
- On what’s next if not Serrano: DAZN’s Chris Mannix wants 28-year-old to flicker between divisions, seeing as her 5ft5in frame could give her success in higher weight classes too – boxed at light-welterweight in 2017
SKYE Nicolson utilised distance masterfully, landing left hands aplenty and body punching while displaying economical output and showboating en route to a UD10 win over former world champion Sarah Mahfoud, securing the vacant WBC featherweight title overnight at the luxurious Las Vegas’ Fontainebleau Hotel.
Armed with a near four-inch reach advantage, she maintained discipline with her stick-and-move style and while Mahfoud was billed as an awkward fighter coming in, didn’t do any of the things to make this a competitive contest until it was too late.
This wasn’t a messy duel – it really needed to be – the Dane’s entries were from too far out to have any real effect, as Nicolson could time her with shots coming in and punish a porous defensive stance. Couple that with the body work and Skye was quickly enjoying herself, smile on her face, bossing their exchanges.
When asked to provide her opinion on the three-minute round debate, three-weight undisputed world champion Claressa Shields said she wanted 10×3-minute rounds for all world champion female boxers on DAZN’s broadcast as they veered into Amanda Serrano territory, already previewing a fight midway this shutout.
They told an anecdote about how Nicolson was unsure about whether she’d pursue the Paris Olympics on the amateur circuit, having lost to Britain’s Karriss Artingstall at the quarter-final stage in Tokyo, until last summer when changing her strength-and-condition coach and focusing wholeheartedly on being a world-level professional.
Ten fights and 25 months into her career in the paid ranks, she’s not doing too badly. Activity has helped, though now is where the tests will surely intensify – whether she boxes Serrano next or defends the title, as a matchup against Britain’s WBC International champion Raven Chapman (8-0) is expected before the year’s end.
Artingstall (6-0, 29yo) is currently promoted by Ben Shalom’s BOXXER platform right now on Sky Sports in the UK but she too would naturally like an opportunity to replicate what she did as an Olympian in the pros with a world title up for grabs.
Elsewhere in the weight class, Nigeria’s Elizabeth Oshoba (7-0, 25yo) claimed the WBC Silver title Nicholson briefly held last year with a tenth-round TKO win over Michela Braga in Copenhagen on January 13 and isn’t far off a shot either.
Pacheco leaves you wanting more
The old adage is, styles make fights and super-middleweight prospect Diego Pacheco looked human as he didn’t have it all his own way despite staying perfect with a UD10 win (98-92, 97-93, 96-94) over fellow unbeaten hopeful Shawn McCalman.
Improving to 21-0, the 23-year-old talent said he was happy to bank valuable rounds against a rugged opponent – even if it wasn’t an exciting watch – and insisted he wanted a top-10 challenge next, regardless of sanctioning body after names like Edgar Berlanga and Jaime Munguia were previously linked.
“You can probably say [potential opposition] better than me but anyone of those guys, we can run it,” he told Chris Mannix in his post-fight interview.
Pacheco (#2 WBO, #5 WBC and IBF) landed 86 of his 260 total punches (33%), compared to 69-of-287 (24%) for the previously perfect 15-0 Colorado native, who visibly tired as things went down the stretch as his lack of late-round cardio cost him.
Much like after watching highly-rated heavyweight Justis Huni wade through trouble against Kevin Lerena in Riyadh last month, Hearn doubled down on his desire to slow the 23-year-old’s progress a touch afterwards but saw value in the experience.
“He showed versatility, but also that he’s got things to learn. It’s good when you’re deemed the hype machine – critics, fans and mainly I am propping you up – and you need to go back to the drawing board a little bit, people will watch this and say maybe he’s beatable, it was a good ten rounds.”
The aforementioned Munguia (#1 WBO, WBC) is set to box Canelo Alvarez on May 4, but besides him, here’s a look at the top-10 names around Pacheco in the rankings across three sanctioning bodies – excluding the WBA – at the time of writing:
IBF: William Scull, Vladimir Shishkin, Christian Mbilli, Edgar Berlanga
WBC: Mbilli, Erik Bazinyan, Kevin Lele Sadjo, Caleb Plant, Sergiy Derevyanchenko
WBO: Munguia-Bazinyan-Mbilli-Berlanga all in the top-5
Pacheco is #13 with the WBA and likely won’t explore that route to challenge for championship gold anytime soon, considering it’s a sanctioning body where PBC’s David Morrell is currently the world champion having officially been upgraded from interim status in June 2021 as Canelo was granted their Super distinction.
Hitchins avoids upset, but only just
117-111, 115-113, 115-113: Richardson Hitchins bt. Gustavo Lemos via UD12 in IBF light-welterweight title eliminator
- Hitchins no-sells any suggestions he didn’t clearly prevail: “I felt like I won it unanimously, it was close… I gave him right hands and traded with him because my corner said it was close. I thought I was outboxing him, a 29-0 fighter and in his prime, coming to my country to win… they’ll say he got robbed but I won easily in my opinion, a good fight.”
- American talent continued while hinting at some issues during his fight camp: “He [Lemos] was short, real powerful and relentless… came to win, no-one wants to lose their 0 [unbeaten record], it’s just a learning experience for me. This is my first active year, he caught me with some good shots but I did too. I could’ve put in a better performance but knew I wasn’t gonna come in at 100%, my team know about the issues going on.”
- Contrasting viewpoints: Hearn declares it a coming-of-age fight for 23-year-old, while Sergio Mora criticises him for lacking humility with post-fight speech after a closely-fought 12-round affair that many – he and Mannix included – felt he narrowly lost by a round or two
American rising light-welterweight talent Richardson Hitchins might be 18-0, but was made to work for a gritty but controversial decision win in a duel between two unbeaten championship hopefuls during their 140lbs main event overnight.
It felt telling that Shields, audibly supporting her compatriot throughout, couldn’t give him any more rounds than a 6-6 draw by the final bell while the rest of DAZN’s commentary booth all believed he fell narrowly short despite displaying precisely the sort of heart standing him in good stead for similar tests at the world-class level.
Lemos landed the most noteworthy action through six minutes, connecting on big right hands and exposing Hitchins’ tendency to box with his hands lower than they should be when defending attacks. This didn’t waver with time either.
A highly-regarded pressure fighter making his Stateside debut, the Buenos Aires native overwhelmed a skilful younger foe with volume while winning the bulk of their tussles on the inside. Things weren’t going to the script, which made for a more compelling watch – Hitchins has been criticised in the past for non-exciting bouts.
Hitchins gradually got going and banked a few of the middle rounds as both had periods of success in a nip-and-tuck affair, until El Electrico badly rocked the heavy favourite in the eighth and kept him on unsteady legs for a while afterwards.
His corner questioned his mettle, telling their charge he was trailing before R10 and that went on to be his best stanza for a while, hustling through the fire while digging to the body, using hooks well and throwing more combos like Lemos had done earlier.
However, 25-year veteran referee Raul Caiz Jr did a poor job as far as keeping a lid on things with Hitchins repeatedly evading punishment for excessive holding, both whenever he was in danger and wanting to muddy the visitor’s work to boot.
Sloppy defensively at times, he wasn’t subtle in overusing this tactic because there was no threat of a point deduction and even in the fight’s second-half it was clear his punches wouldn’t deter the taxing pressure coming back in his face twice as fast.
Moving a lot without urgency in the final round, he needed to keep this fight at mid or long-range but that proved easier said than done. Fortunately, it didn’t matter this time – it certainly will against the world champions he so publicly craves.
Results elsewhere on the card
Flyweight: Galal Yafai bt. Agustin Gauto via R8 TKO
Super-featherweight: Marc Castro bt. Abraham Montoya via UD10 (100-90, 98-92, 97-93)
Steven Navarro bt. Jose Lopez via R6 TKO on super-flyweight debut
Lightweight: Harley Mederos bt. Pedro Vicente Scharbaai via R4 TKO
Picture source: Matchroom, quotes via DAZN broadcast
Mo and Sports 