Women’s Ratings Update: Nicolson jumps to No. 1, Lefebvre-Scotney for vacant Ring belt
As one of the great boxing countries in the world, Australia has had its share of great female fighters. One of them is inching closer to becoming the first-ever Ring champion from the Southern Hemisphere.
In the most notable women’s boxing match of the past week, Skye Nicolson defeated Sarah Mahfoud in a featherweight bout that saw the southpaw from Queensland thoroughly dominating her Danish foe in what the judges considered a shutout.
Nicolson, rated at No. 5 at featherweight before the bout, was then proposed to occupy the No. 1 spot occupied by Mahfoud before their encounter, and the vote was all but unanimous.
“Nicolson showed that she had grown into a very fluid fighter while running her game from the outside,” said historian Malissa Smith. “She used the jab effectively to set up her straight shots. She also used levels well, had nimble feet, and remained relaxed under fire.”
For some, however, the doubts remain.
“Nicolson’s safety-first technique is not exactly fan-friendly, but has paid dividends for her thus far,” said writer Christopher Benedict. “It’s obvious that she has put in a lot of time in the gym, improving her physique as well as her ring acumen, but I too don’t care for the way she holds her hands so low and her antics at the end of the fight were very off-putting.”
“I hate the way she boxes with her hands down and I didn’t like her showboating in the final round,” said radio host Cynthia Conte, while writer and editor Irene Deserti agreed by saying “Skye did not completely convince me with her performance. I found the fight extremely boring. Skye certainly has good qualities, but I think Sarah didn’t make her work too hard.”
With that, Nicolson was voted as our new No. 1, displacing everyone else one spot.
“I know Mahfoud has now lost twice in two years but I still have a hard time rating Meinke above her,” said Ring magazine senior writer Jake Donovan in his suggestion of not dropping Mahfoud any further following her lackluster performance. “Mahfoud beat (Meinke) cleanly just two years ago and even after the Serrano loss posted far more significant wins than Meinke, who has been active but versus mediocre opposition.”
In other developments, a quick vote was taken to decide whether the impending fight between France’s Segolene Lefebvre and Britain’s Ellie Scotney should be a Ring magazine title bout, and the unanimous answer was in the affirmative. Lefebvre currently sits at No. 1 and Scotney at No. 3 at junior featherweight, but both of the fighter’s merits were considered more than enough to warrant the vacant inaugural title to be on the line.
Diego M. Morilla has written for The Ring since 2013. He has also written for HBO.com, ESPN.com and many other magazines, websites, newspapers and outlets since 1993. He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and an elector for the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He has won two first-place awards in the BWAA’s annual writing contest, and he is the moderator of The Ring’s Women’s Ratings Panel. He served as copy editor for the second era of The Ring en Español (2018-2020) and is currently a writer and editor for RingTV.com.
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