Skye Nicholson

The lads are back with a new guest. One of the rising stars of boxing Skye Nicholson all about her time in boxing, life in Oz and the weird DM's

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Oh oh my goodness. Hello folks, and welcome back to the Brawl Boxing
Podcast. I'm Karen McCord and I'mjoined by co host Colin mcgigan and Ran

(00:24):
McLaughlin. Well, guys, we'reglad to be back. It's been a
long time we've been away and we'vegot one of us room's finest almost today.
Please welcome WBC Silver Feather with andAussie olympian Sky Nicholson. Sky are
you being I'm good. I'm reallygood. Thank you. Did you have
your was it the own thing lastnight or two nights ago? Two nights

(00:45):
ago? Yeah, h I wasthat. It was good. Actually,
um, I don't normally love thosekinds of things, but it was.
It was good. A bit randomon a Monday night, a red carpet
event, but um yea that therewas definitely hype around around the fight,
around fight week and that was agood buzz. It was good to be
there. What is what is itexactly you need to do? You just

(01:07):
sort of go when sure you're fierceand just sort of do interviews and stuff.
Yeah, yeah, pretty much likeit's it's a good chance just to
get your face out there. Um, lots of media outlets there obviously.
Um, but the whole mat roomstable were invited and um, I mainly
went to support the show, tosupport fight week. Um, but yeah

(01:27):
it was good. It was good. Nothing like an Anthony Josha feet week
as well. It's one of thebiggest, so I'm sure they red corporate
settings and then Charlie partitions running theboat. Think. Yeah. I actually
the main reason I wanted to gobecause I wanted to get a photo of
AJ, because I've never had aphoto of never actually get it. No,

(01:48):
oh foxy X guy. Yeah,I had. My intention set was
to get a photo with AJ.Blow up Instagram didn't happen. Did you
see him at all? From adish stance? But he was just like
being smothered with media the whole time. So what boxers would you get?
Like starstruck when you see I wasvery star struck when I met Canelo.

(02:13):
Yeah, um, you got afoot, didn't you. Yeah that was
cool. Yeah, that was mymy debut fight week as well, so
that was really cool. Um.Column column got very star shock when he
made he said he could speak.I couldn't speak. I We'll just witness

(02:38):
the long will kick from the mentionAFL because Sky he's ordered threw us to
the sale a little bit now thathe's got his paycheck off. Yeah yeah
he's um he's the IFL guy.Now you guys are just the yeah do
what as well? Sky like whatevery guest how born like? They bring

(03:00):
it back from the back, bringit back to the start and obvious year
from one of the most beautiful placesin the world in the Gold Coast.
What was that like? Grown upthere? Amazing? I feel like the
more time you spend away and abroad, like, there's amazing, beautiful places
around the world, but nothing quitefeels like home and nothing quite feels like

(03:21):
the Gold Coast, and um,it's definitely made me very grateful to have,
um have been able to grow upin such an amazing place, beautiful
weather. Australians are very very luckyto be born there until live there,
so um No, I'm I'm verygrateful for my upbringing back home and I
think that's that's definitely where I'll alwayssettle. Um But I've made my home

(03:46):
away from home here in the UKand I'm loving it. I don't love
the weather, but um no,Australia, Australia will always be home.
What was your first day like inEngland the first day as soon as you
said food. I've been to theUK quite a few times. My parents
were actually British, right, Yeah, so I have been to the UK

(04:10):
and obviously came here with training campsand things over the years. But when
I actually like signed with match Roomand decided I was moving here and well
I didn't, it all happened veryfast. I came here with the intention
that I would just do my trainingcamps here and I would still go home
quite frequently. But obviously I hada very busy first year, so I

(04:31):
was basically a training camp all year. So I feel like I live here
now. I've probably spent three orfour weeks in Australia out of the past
sixteen seventeen months, So yeah,it kind of just naturally happened this way
because obviously I'm fighting quite regularly,so I'm always in camp, my team's

(04:56):
here, and obviously when I'm notboxing, I'm working on shows as well.
That was a big part of mysigning with match Room, was to
be working on commentary and working forhis own and matt Room Media as well.
So um, it's definitely kept mevery busy, that's for sure.

(05:16):
Do you planet the times whenever yougo home where it just happens like,
um, not really like I guessI kind of knew last year, so
I had I was going to havethree fights quite close back to back and
then go home, and then weended up making it four fights. So
instead of going home after my fighton the Taylor Sorrano card in New York,

(05:42):
I stayed and did another I thinklike six or eight weeks and then
went home after that. So Iwent home. Um after my fourth fight,
which was about six months i'd donein the UK, went home for
a few weeks and came back startedtraining. My next fight actually was in
Austry earlier, but it wasn' untilOctober, so I came back trained for

(06:04):
that, went back to Australia,boxed, and the plan was to have
my last my sixth fight, Yeah, the fight that I just had in
February. We were meant to havemy six fight in December. So I
came back after my October fight inAustralia and started training and then they couldn't

(06:26):
get me out. There was noslots on a near the cards to get
me out before Christmas. So Iwent home early December, had like my
Christmas last week in November, firstweek in December with my family, and
then came back started camp the secondweek of December and trained through Christmas to
fight in February and New York.You see in terms of the actual culture

(06:49):
though, like obviously Australia is waymore Petu esque. It's gorgeous, like
there's amazing, but like like wehave a lot of meets because like there's
so many Iris obviously in a reallyuh there's so many Brettis Industralia and then
there's loads of Australians and so likedo you find the culture is quite similar
the panther? Very yeah, veryvery similar. My best friends back home

(07:12):
are actually Irish. They've been livingout there. They've been living in Brisbane
for about four years now. ConnorWallace you probably know him and his girlfriend
Colina. Yeah, they're my bestfriends back home. Um. Yeah,
so there's definitely a lot of similarities. Um like pubs, sport. Sorry

(07:36):
that was Tito to come say highIs that is that your dog? That's
my dog? So I actually gothim over here, so that's another reason

(07:57):
I m thank him. Now I'mstuck. Mum cried when I faced time
turned, Um said, I gota dog because she's like, oh my
god, you're never coming home.Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna drop the
AFL box here because of all thesetwo are straight on at all. He's
gonna start boxing about a FL Butme and you spoke about it, this
one an IFL and if you wantthem. It didn't really get the going

(08:18):
into depth about it, but yousaid to me something along the names if
you didn't really like boxing grown upin terms of watching it, It wasn't
something talk to me a bit aboutthat because strings that obviously now you've you've
Tornedo is a professoral boxing. Yeah, well, I've always grown up around
boxing so um, mostly amateur boxing. In saying that, I grew up

(08:39):
at amateur boxing shows pretty much everyweekend, um, so I kind of
naturally started boxing because of that.And sorry, I'm just gonna let Tito
go away. He's distracting me.But honestly, like because I sorry,

(09:01):
I think because I was around boxingso much, Like I started boxing when
I was twelve years old, soI was in the boxing gym Monday to
Friday, I was at amateur boxingshows on Saturdays, like my family every
like family event and dinner was talkingabout boxing. I think the last thing

(09:22):
I wanted to do when I hadsome chill time was watch boxing, so
I didn't. I didn't really watchmuch boxing at all until I turned pro.
I studied a lot of opponents andstuff as I obviously started representing Australia

(09:43):
and was boxing in major international tournaments. I was I was studying opponents that
I would potentially fight, but Iwould never go and watch fights just because
I enjoyed watching boxing. But nowI'm like obsessed with it. But I've
watched more boxing in the past twelvemonths, and I watched my whole life,
and that's purely because I love watchingit and I feel like I learned

(10:03):
from watching it as well. Um, I like watching like videos of boxing
where they've like slowed things down andthey're actually explaining what the boxers are doing,
the way they set traps, thingslike that. So, um,
I'm quite I'm quite an obsessed boxingfan now, which is nice. Like,
even there was like two or threeboxing shows on the other night,
all at the same time, andI was literally just flipping between all shows,

(10:26):
all three shows, watching it abit of everyone. Um, but
yeah, I didn't really show muchinterest the big the big fights, the
Mayweather fights, um, the Canelofights. They would we would normally like
have a social gathering and I wouldobviously watch it, but I was never

(10:48):
like excited about it. I couldn'tgive you a prediction on how the fight
was going to go because I didn'twatch boxing. When you said when you
said boxing was instilled in you aroundyour family, hard that comment. Boat
and har did your first in abox and Jim So my older brothers boxed.
They're a lot older than me.So Mum and dad started young and

(11:09):
had me. I was I'm theyoungest, so they had me a lot
later. And so my oldest brotheris twenty seven years older than me,
So him and Jamie they were twoyears apart. They started boxing at twelve
and fourteen, which would have beenin the seventies, late seventies, early

(11:30):
eighties, and Jamie ended up havingprobably three hundred amateur fights. He won
Australia's first ever Men's World Championship medal. He got bronze when he was seventeen
years old at the Elite Men's WorldChampionships. Comwell bronze medal, went to

(11:52):
the Olympic Games in Barcelona, soobviously my whole family was very involved in
in his boxing career. He actuallydid turn pro. I think he had
like seven pro files. He wasonly twenty two, but he passed away
in a car accident in nineteen ninetyfour. And then I was born in

(12:15):
ninety five, so I never actuallymet Jamie, but I obviously grew up
hearing all about the amazing things hedid, and he was naturally a role
model for me and someone I lookedup to very much. I never really
thought that I would box, butmy family stayed involved in boxing. I
think as almost as a way ofstaying close to Jamie in a way.

(12:39):
My oldest brother, Alan is aboxing coach, and he actually taught me
to box when I started training whenI was twelve, so he was my
first coach. He's still a coachnow, an amateur boxing coach, so
that's kind of how it all cameabout. There wasn't many girls was boxing

(13:00):
when I started. I started boxingin two thousand and eight, and I
boxed the same girls a lot ofthe time. Because there was only a
few of us, it was hardto find twelve thirteen year old girls fifteen
sixteen years ago that were around thesame weight and stuff as well. So
I boxed a lot of the samegirls over and over again. We all

(13:20):
just kept fighting each other. Sometimeswe'd win, sometimes would lose. But
I think that's what kind of keptme in the sport. Luckily, it's
huge now there's so many girls boxing, which is amazing. But yeah,
that was kind of that was howit started. I tried lots of different
sports, Like Mum and Dad alwayshad me in sport and I always did

(13:41):
school sport, but I was alwayslike really average. I was never really
that good at anything, and I'mquite a competitive person. So when I
found boxing and I had like abit of natural talent and I'd get told
that I was good at it,that was kind of my driving motivation to
keep going with her. And obviouslyI liked winning, so um yeah that

(14:07):
I never stopped. I've I could. I could probably tell you right now,
I've never been out of a boxinggym since I was twelve years old
for more than two or three weeksmaximum. I've just been obsessed Sky your
Toad Star. Like obviously, thegrowth of women's boxing and was pretty much
non existent obviously where we're all are. So we're like Katie Taylor farm boys,

(14:28):
like, at what point of KatieTailor command your dar? Being like
when I was about I'm going tosay fourteen, So I've been boxing two
years. Um. I was actuallyon a family holiday in the UK and
I have cousins in Scary's and theyactually knew people that ran the gym where

(14:54):
Katie trained, and they had organizedfor me to go and meet her and
train with her at the gym.And we showed up at this gym and
all the lights are off, noone was there, and my cousin's like,
I can't believe this is like talkedup this whole thing. And I
was like, I'm meeting Katie Taylorand I'm all excited. And they had

(15:16):
like accidentally double booked whatever, andshe was out like a sports awards awards
night, probably winning Sportswoman of theYear or something. I don't know.
This would have been two thousand andten and maybe even two thousand and nine,
and they they got my cousin gothold of them and they said come
down to whatever the community center whereverit was where she was at this awards

(15:41):
dinner, she's going to come outand meet Sky. So she actually came.
She left the awards night and cameout to the car park and just
met me, got a photo ofme, asked me about my boxing,
and gave me the time of day. And I've been the biggest Katie Taylor
fan ever since because I was justlike, obviously it made my trip and
she didn't have to do that,do you know what I mean? She

(16:03):
was a woman of the hour upstairsin some awards ceremony and she came out
and talked to this kid from Australiawho'd had fifteen fifteen fights and looked up
to her, and I feel like, yeah, that that was the moment
where I was like, I wantto be like her. It's funny,
you said, because I was sittingacross from you at Sir Ronald Cruise and

(16:25):
you and Kitty Killer were just inconversation. Sent me the whole time came
through circle. Was that the firsttime you've actually spent came with her sensor?
Have you opportunities? So the nextso we've got that photo. I
can send it to if you want. I've got that photo Katie and I
and then I'm going to say aboutsix years later, twenty sixteen, we

(16:51):
both got bronze at the Women's WorldChampionships in two different weight divisions, and
we were lining up for the podiumpresentations together and I got my next picture
with her there. So six yearsold. It went from me meeting my
idol as a child as a younggirl looking up to her too, then
lining up at the podium at theWomen's World Championship six years later, um,

(17:17):
and then she turned pro after that, that was the years she turned
pro. And about six years afterthat, I would say, or near
about, UM, I announced signingwith match Room and she was there and
I got my next picture with herthere, and then I was on a

(17:38):
her undercard, um in my thirdfight. So it's kind of been like
a a progression, are you You'rejust gonna get a picture with her every
time you see her in her basicallyyeah. She she always gives you the
time of day, if you ifyou if you go and have a chat
with her. She's she's a verydown to earth person, as I'm sure

(18:00):
you guys know. UM. Obviously, sitting with her at the Serrano Cruise
fight, UM, it was nicejust to chat in a more relaxed way
because we were sat there together forthe last couple of fights and um,
yeah, she's she's cool. Mostlyhaving to pinch yourself, like what's your
family's reaction? Is your thought inMST twists now, like you've obviously saying

(18:25):
we're all much from farm boys.Like what you're saying for the biggest like
emotional company in the world, Likewhat is the reaction to everything? You
know? It's actually been amazing.Like when I m about out of the
Olympics in twenty twenty one, straightaway it was like Paris twenty twenty four,
like tunnel vision, I mean towin the Olympic gold medal. That's

(18:48):
my goal. Turning pro has neverit was just never something I had any
interesting. It was never a goalor a dream for me to um tern
pro and wind belts and all that. Like I think I was just so
ingrained in the amateur system and it'sjust all I ever knew, and I
kind of like my parents were alwaysnot against me turning pro but didn't really

(19:12):
encourage it, and have always justbeen about representing Australia, representing your country,
winning medals. So I was reallynervous when I had to call them
and say, I'm actually not goingto bother with the Commonwealth Games. I'm
turning professional. Because they were allreally excited the Commoth Games were in Birmingham.

(19:34):
I was the reigning Commwoalth Games goldmedalist and they were really excited to
see me go and like get doublegold. They were going to come to
Birmingham. So they were a littlebit like what why what are you doing?
No, that wasn't the plan.But they love it. Like they've

(20:00):
come to four out of my sixprofiles, um, and they're just like
my biggest fans. They love itthat honestly, Um, I'm pretty sure
now. If I said to themall like I'm still really on the fence
about if I'm going to go backto the Olympics, if I'm going to
do Paris, I was like,don't bother. I love what you're doing.

(20:23):
This is great. Actually, Iheard you the way in was it
was it the way in the NewYork movie and your dad was screaming something
and you were going outside of afterand oh my god, Like it's they
really are really into it. Theygot there, yeah, and dad can
be quite painful. But I wasI was doing an interview and he's literally

(20:45):
talking like right next to my headthat I could not even like hear myself
think. And I was like,Dad, I'm in an interview, like
can you go away? But he'sjust like so over excited with it all,
like no, it's um, it'sgood. I'm I'm very lucky.
Like a lot of especially girls,I might not get that same support,

(21:06):
but I'm very lucky that they've alwayssupported whatever I wanted to do, even
when it wasn't necessarily what they wanted. There's part twenty four still league up
in the earth whether you're doing knowwhether to do it or not. Yeah,
it is. Actually it's really hard, you know, because when it's
been your dream for so long andI absolutely love what I'm doing now,
I have no regrets about turning professional. I love what I'm doing, I've

(21:27):
got new goals, I love myteam, I love what we're doing in
the gym. I'm improving and learningand it's all new and exciting. But
of course, as a part ofme that's still like I don't want to
have regrets down the line where Ididn't go back and try and right the

(21:48):
wrongs of what happened in Tokyo,It's hard. It's really hard because at
the same time, I know,like you don't. You can't just decide,
oh, I'm going to be anOlympic gold medalist, like it's a
It's one of the hardest things youcan do, especially in boxing, and
I feel like you need to beall in, one hundred percent all in.

(22:08):
Same with what if if I wantto go and disputed or I want
to win world titles at multiple weightdivisions. It's not just something I can
be like, oh, I'm justgoing to pop over to the amateurs and
I'm going to pop back to thepros. I feel like I need to
be one hundred percent all in whicheverway I go, and I'm really struggling
with that at the moment. Butit's definitely a decision that I do need
to um officially make by June JuneJuly because that's when the qualifying process will

(22:34):
will start in August for the Olympics. So um, we're going to try
and squeeze in two profiles and thenit's it's DJ It's decision time. So
but speaking on that, obviously,they're like they are sort of two different
sports and you're you're not that farin near pool career, so you probably
Kuda Josh Black like we had sortof boxered on the forum. We've asked

(22:56):
them like you right nigh, evensome of them being word champions, we
would say sort of like you ratenow if you get in with your army
to yourself, you're in the beingself over four Ruyan say, like what
would happen on a lot of them? Second box the head off me over
four runs? But I mean,like, do you worry that your stage
maybe adopted too much? I meaneven just in this camp that I'm in

(23:19):
right now, like since my lastfight, I'm a completely different fighter,
Like I cannot tell you, I'mso excited, like really really excited to
show everyone in my next fight becauselike you wouldn't You wouldn't recognize me if
you walked in the gym and Iwas sparring now, you wouldn't think it
was me. And I'm really excitedabout that because I have We've changed my

(23:41):
style a lot. We're keeping everythingI'm good at, but we're just we've
just added so much new stuff andI'm just absolutely loving it. I think
the men and women it's a littlebit different. I feel like the women
can get away with going back alittle bit more than the men can because
the women's pro boxing is still sofast paced with the two minute rounds.

(24:06):
To go back to the amateurs todo three threes, it's not quite as
an extreme difference is going from liketwelve threes to three trees, like eight
and ten two to three threes.It's not as big a difference, if
that makes sense. Yeah, Butdo you do you feel like there would
be any tantation to sort of likepush for a start beats or something when

(24:27):
you're you're you're sort of used tolike as well, you'd sort of be
a justin like the difference an atmospherein order to be for Olympics, the
atmosphere is probably class Yeah, likea proof fate. It's it's the crowd
roaring for blood. Yeah, twodifferent things. Um, I feel like
a lot of the outside noise doesn'treally affect me. Um either way.

(24:49):
But I do think like a lotof the new stuff I'm doing you can't
do in the amateurs. Um,Like I am doing a lot more tricks,
and I guess like slipping shots,going under shots, a lot of
things that they pull up a lotin the amateurs for putting your head to
too low and keeping your hand outfor too long. Things like that,

(25:11):
things that you do in the prosthat you can't do in the amateurs.
So I think there is there isdeterrence to not to like to not do
it. But at the same time, I think I would adapt quite comfortably,
obviously, because I've done amateur boxingfor fifteen years. I've been a
pro for twelve months. Like,I think it would be quite easy for

(25:33):
me to get back to boxing morelike an amateur. I don't feel like
my style has changed that much,but in saying that, it has changed
a lot, especially in the lastcouple of months. So I don't know.
It's a very hard decision to make, but I know that I'll make
the best decision for me at thispoint in time, and I'll I'll live

(25:53):
with that decision. I'll you knowwhat, I could go back. I
could do La Olympics and not doParis if I really wanted to. Are
you going to know? Certain onthe Pody Olympics. Yeah, skipping Paris,
but maybe twenty twenty eight. We'llsee, We'll see. I don't

(26:18):
know. I really don't know atthis point in time. But the decision
will be made after my my fightin June. Before we're up. A
couple of things I want to askyou, so I think Kara's got a
bit of a weird question for youto be first, but I'll ask you
first, dealer, Cameron, what'syour prediction? You know what, I'm

(26:38):
always happy to give predictions when Iknow about both fighters, and I know
these both these girls well. Butthis really is a hard fight to call
um. I honestly think it's goingto be who is their best self on
the night. I feel like it'sa very even fifty fifty five. I
think they've both got great boxing skills. They're both relentless, They're both willing

(27:02):
to die in there. But atthe same time, they've both got amazing
boxing skills. Obviously, Katie's comingup in weight, She's she's getting in
with the bigger, stronger girl,but then she's also got the home advantage.
She's going to have all the violinbehind her. I think that's gonna
lift Katie as well. But thisis Santell's moment that she's obviously trained her

(27:23):
whole life or as well. It'sa hard one. It's honestly, I
I if I had to give aprediction. I think being Katie's homecoming,
I think it's going to lift herand we're going to see a stellar performance
from Katie. Um. But eitherway, it's going to be very competitive.

(27:44):
I think everyone's going to want tosee a number two that could even
be a trilogy, that could betalked about forever. I'm very excited for
that fight. Okay, so itwasn't either, but apparently I have to
ask it. So we so wehad to have anyone right, and we
sort of talked about like weird requestsyou get from fans and stuff. Obviously

(28:07):
she gets in all dated with him. She makes a fortune off as well.
But yeah, if you basically areyour dms like a story place or
Hearn's wondering whether what he can askyou for his dms? You know what,
The d ms are such a mixedbag. You just never know.

(28:33):
We'll do something really quick here,right, yeah you ms, right now,
I'm reading your last three requests thisOkay, let's have a look quick
and unsend yours because I don't allright, I mean, yeah, I

(28:59):
Canonium must be tis like yeah,um if they've sent a disappearing photo,
I don't even open it. I'lltell you that much. God, honestly,
I get sent like love poems.Um. That's where people have like

(29:21):
personalized poems to me. Um.Is it usually like do you click on
the profiles? Is it usually likeBritish people or like a lot of British
people. A lot of the Britishguys are more like please can I take
you out for a drink? Likewe're in London, e base, what
does a man have to do?What does a man have to do to

(29:45):
to take you out? Like?That's usually like the British ones. Um.
And then there's like the Eastern Europeanguys or a lot of like the
like Indian Asian kind of countries wherethey're like I need you, I need
to marry you. You are themost beautiful woman I've ever laid my eyes
on. And I'm like I readthem sometimes and I think, man,

(30:07):
how many people did you learn thattoo? You're just like trying to get
a reply. Do you repay anyoneunless it's like someone either that I've met
or that I know people that knowthem and I want to actually have a
conversation with that person. But forthe most part, no, yeah,

(30:30):
there you go you in London?How does one take you to dinner?
How are you so perfect? Theperfect girl doesn't exist? Dot dot dot.
That's my my burner, Like whydo I can say? Listen to
roll boxing? One guy. Oneguy messaged me last week. He said,

(30:53):
Hello, my wife is fighting onSunday. I'm her coach. She
is literally in love with you.She is your super fan. I know
you are famous and you may neverread my message, but I need to
try. Could you please message herand say good luck? I would be
grateful for life. So I messagedhis wife and said good luck for her

(31:14):
fight, and I'll try and gether response up for you. We'll end
it all. She said, Ohmy god, oh my god, I
don't believe it your message. Youare my idol. For a moment I
thought it was a joke from myhusband. I still can't believe my eyes.

(31:38):
I've bled and I cried, butI swear to you this evening reading
your message that I still don't believeit can be true. I cried,
thank you with all my heart.You are truly my idol. On Sunday,
I will make my entrance with thisshirt similar to yours. I love
you and thank you again with allmy heart and sent like a picture of

(31:59):
like an NBA single, kind oflike the one I walked out to in
New York, the kiddie tailors guy. It was a lot. It was
a lot. Then screenshotted my messagesaying good luck for your fight and posted
it on her. Yeah, thankyou very much for coming on. We
really appreciate your than today. We'lllook forward to having the second episode soon

(32:22):
and maybe we'll announce your Paris Olympichid on that one. Yeah, appreciate
Thank you very much, Thank youso much, guys, see you later.