175 Skye Nicolson The Rise Of Australias New Boxing Superstar

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I'm Mike Boris, and this is Straight Talk.

Scott Nicholson, welcome to Straight Talk. Pretty exciting, huh?

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Oh, I'm excited about next week.

So am I.

You must be. Hopefully you are. How's training going?

Really, really good.

Yeah. Weight's good?

Very good. I know fighters pretty much always say it's been the best camp,

but it really actually has been the best camp. Yeah, touch wood. One more week to go,

but it's just been...

Very smooth sailing.

I mean, can we just pick apart a good camp? So what do you mean by that? So I guess,

I mean, you're always training, et cetera, I get that, but like 12 weeks out,

when do you start prepping for a fight?

About 10 weeks.

10 weeks, okay. So just take me through the camp. So what are we looking at?

I came home for Christmas, which was a really nice break away from the boxing gym.

You live in the UK, though?

I am living in the UK. So I came back to Australia for Christmas,

enjoyed the Gold Coast summer. It was amazing. And I just, I feel like I went back and started

camp in such a good headspace. I think I needed that time away from the boxing gym.

And yeah, camp can sometimes feel like it drags and it can be a little bit long.

This has flown by. Like the weeks were just flying. It was coming around so fast.

And I was just feeling better and better every week. I didn't have a bad spa.

We were sparring top, top girls, all camp. And you could barely fault around, which was

refreshing. There's definitely been camps where things just haven't worked in sparring. And

you kind of go into fights thinking like, am I ready? Yeah. Just like those question marks a

little bit, but there's absolutely no question marks for this fight. I've never felt better

prepared.

You're not marked up or anything. You look,

amazing. I guess you're pretty young still, but like you are quite, it's quite amazing. I was

just looking at your skin, et cetera. Like you're not beaten up at all. So you have,

and you just come off a camp. So, and you just mentioned sparring. Could you just take us through

though what sparring looks like? So one, where do you get your spa partners from? Are they from

overseas or are they local? How hard is it to get a spa partner given that you're the world champion

in your division, the WBC? So like, you know, how can you get someone up to your level?

Yeah.

Do you pick a spa partner, for example, that's similar to the size of your opponent or style

of your opponent? So show me how that looks.

Yeah. There's a lot that goes into it. I actually think we've found it easier to

get sparring partners since becoming world champion. I think people want to test themselves

against a world champion and say they've sparred a world champion. So

the last 12 months has probably been less difficult to get in good sparring, which has been

refreshing. It's been nice.

In Australia?

No, no, no. So I do my training camp in England. We spar a range of different styles, but

obviously want girls, want sparring partners that I guess have the same stance, similar build

to the opponent that we're preparing for. We spar a mix and a range of ages, weights,

um,

aggressive girls, less aggressive girls.

So counter punches for somebody coming at you all the time.

Exactly. Just so we're kind of prepared for anything. Um, I think with my style of fighting,

you never really know what approach the opponent's going to come in with if they're,

if they're going to be aggressive or if they're going to try and sit back and make me come to

them. Cause obviously I'm known as a counter boxer. Um,

But by the way, everyone should know that you're, you're a, you're a lefty. So you're a Southpaw.

I'm a Southpaw, yes.

So your opponent, is she Orthodox?

She's Orthodox, yeah.

Okay. So,

She changes a little bit though. She switches stance sometimes, yeah.

So what are you expecting? I mean, like as a Southpaw, um, what are you expecting from a

right-hander?

Um, a right-hander in general or the one I'm fighting next week?

Well, you don't have to give too many things away, but just right in general, just to give our

audience a bit of a sense of, you know, what you're, what you're being careful of, what you

don't want to expose yourself to.

Um, I feel like as a Southpaw, you do have a little bit of an advantage, um, being the fact that you

are standing in the opposite stance to the way that most fighters are. So most of the opponents of

my next opponent would have been Orthodox, right-handed. Um, so when they're standing

opposite each other, they're, everything's the same. Whereas

You're trying to get your right foot outside her.

Whereas it opens right up when it's Southpaw versus Orthodox. So your backhand's a lot further

away and there's, there's a battle for that left.

I'm a little bit of an awkward Southpaw to set up the backhand. Um, but for me, I'm a little bit

of an awkward Southpaw.

How's that?

I don't mind being on the inside.

Wow.

So they come in with a game plan to be taking my lead side off me and I love it. I'm happy to be

there and not a lot of Southpaws are.

Yeah. Because you were sitting right in their right hand.

Yeah.

I mean, they, they, they're straight come, they could come straight down the barrel.

Yeah. But they just can't find me.

Yeah. So, so you're, you're...

You're good at movement. Is that your thing?

Yeah. I'd say, um, I, I feel like I have very good reflexes, reaction time, speed, um, and footwork.

I think that would be my biggest strengths. And I would say my opponents

not going to very easily find Southpaw sparring that has those same strengths.

Well, especially at your level.

Yes.

Yeah. Like you might find a Southpaw, but there might be a Palooka.

Like, you know, not necessarily very good.

Yes.

Or not very polished at the craft. So, so you, so you've been able to get, so in your case,

your training camp is in the UK.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, whereabouts in the UK? Which part of England are we talking about?

Southeast London.

Yeah.

Kent. Um, so it's like just a little bit out of London.

And you're in, um, Matchroom, that's Eddie Hearn's gang.

Yes. Yeah.

Um, who finds the, does he get involved in finding spa partners for you or is that just your team?

No. Yeah, me and my team.

Yep.

So, um, my coach, Eddie Lamb...

Eddie Lamb. It's very confusing. They're all, there's a whole lot of Eddies in England.

It's a thing. Um, my coach, Eddie Lamb, organizes most of my sparring for me. Um, and yeah,

that ranges from girls from all over the UK and also girls coming in internationally.

From Europe, probably.

Yeah.

Yep.

Um, not always, but yes, in, in this camp, uh, we had, we had a fly in from Denmark,

who we've used before. She's very good. She's had a hundred amateurs.

And she's an undefeated professional, same weight. Um, so she's great to work with, very sharp.

Um, but yeah, we, we, we use a range. We use amateur girls as well. They're very sharp.

Um, we usually have a couple of amateur girls come in at the same time so they can

share the rounds because obviously they're more accustomed to three round fights. So, um...

And would it be normal for you, for example, excuse me, would it be normal for you, for example, to,

uh, do three rounds?

I mean, if you have three rounds with this individual and that person jumps that or two

rounds, then the next person jumps in.

So you're not fighting someone, you're not sparring with someone so they get exhaust,

exhaust, excuse me, exhausted because that's a bit dumb. That doesn't make sense. Um, so

you're just, you know, your team is picking three freshies to take you through for maybe

seven, eight rounds, nine rounds, whatever.

Ten.

Ten rounds, yeah. So you're, you're, you're, you're taking yourself the whole 10 rounds.

Not every single spa.

Yeah.

Um, we, we do maybe three or four 10 round spas.

Across the whole camp.

Oh, wow. Okay.

Um, and the rest are usually about eight, six to eight rounds, mainly eight. We don't do a lot of

six rounders, maybe more towards the end. We did six yesterday to finish camp. It was the last spa

actually with an Australian girl, um, Sarah Gillanin, shout out to her. Um, but yeah, so

it kind of, it's always, it's always ranging. We'll do eight rounds with one girl sometimes,

especially pros. Um, or we'll do 10 rounds with two or three different girls that are coming in

fresh and I just stay in for the rounds.

But is there a big advantage for you, do you think, um, training in England, um, in terms of

sparring because, you know, access to that sort of level of spa partners is pretty hard here in

Australia. Boys and girls.

Yeah.

It's, it's difficult, particularly in the heavyweight division for the boys, it's nearly

impossible, but like, do you think that's a big advantage for you? And there's one of the, is that

one of the reasons you moved to the UK?

Of course, definitely. There's just a lot more opportunity there. Um, unfortunately women's

boxing is still very small here.

We've got a big country.

And then we've got a small population of women fighters that are spread across this big

country. So if we were all in one area where you could all get to each other, it would

probably be a lot stronger, the women's boxing in Australia. But unfortunately we've got

great girls in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Tasmania, Brisbane. Um, it makes it very hard because

you can't be all working together constantly.

What's the boxing community like in Australia for, for females? I mean, there's a lot of

women in Australia.

I mean, is it a proper community? You all know each other, you hang out?

Yeah. Everyone knows each other. It's a very, very small community.

You got a WhatsApp group?

No. Um, a lot of the girls fight each other in Australia as well. Um, obviously not so

much me. I've only fought as a professional one, uh, Australian girl from Tasmania. Um,

last time I was here in 2022. Um, but obviously a lot of the Australian girls are fighting

each other.

So again, it makes it very hard in finding sparring when they're all potential opponents

as well.

Um.

So what about the community in England then? Do you, have you been able to say, I'm noticing

a little bit of a, an English accent in there.

Oh, leave it out.

Now she's going to get real Aussie on me.

I am.

Yeah, yeah.

G'day, how's it going?

I'm sure they, I'm sure they say to you, wow, you sound so Australian.

They do.

But I'm going to have to give you, I'm going to give you a little bit of stickiness. It's,

it's got a little bit of, it's got a little bit of, it's got a little bit of, it's got

a little bit of, it's got a little bit of posh going on there. I said it's the outside.

I think I'm just a posh Australian.

Oh no. Oh my God. It could be her new nickname, posh.

Is that a real thing?

Is there such thing as a posh Australian? Not really.

You just said it then. Listen to your voice.

I have British parents.

Oh really?

Yeah.

Okay.

So that's a little bit of an excuse.

I feel.

But are they, are they living there or are they living here?

No, they live here.

They live here.

Yeah.

Yeah.

They think I'm crazy to want to live there.

Do they?

Yeah. Well, they came here to get away from the joint.

Exactly.

But it's the community.

It's the community.

The community over there is pretty strong. Like the female boxing community.

Yeah. It's a bigger community and a smaller country.

Yeah.

In terms of size.

Yeah. Therefore much closer.

Yeah.

Yeah. Physically closer.

So the availability and I guess opportunity to spar lots of different girls is a lot easier.

But even Raven Chapman, my last opponent, we're both based in London. We'd sparred each

other before.

But you don't really want to live there.

You don't want to be having that all the time. You don't really want your opponents

having had too much training time and experience with you really.

Yeah. Well, I've wondered about it. What's that like when you've sparred with someone

and the next thing you know, it's like, like head gear off.

Yeah.

Let's, let's rip into it now. Cause, and I know, I know what you've got and you know

what I've got.

Yeah.

Or maybe I haven't shown you everything, but you've got a bit of an idea.

Exactly.

How to move around.

You always kind of have to take sparring with a pinch of salt. You're not always necessarily

going into a spa to win a spa.

Well, I'm not. You're working on different things, trying to get off different shots

that you've been working on in, in drills and on the pads. So while you do have, I guess

that opportunity to feel each other out and have some idea of, of, of what it would be

like to fight them. You never really know until you're in there for the fight because

sparring, sparring, and I feel like that's said quite a lot in the boxing world.

Can I ask you about this? Do you mind? You know, just for your audience. I've been a

lot of sparring sessions, both watching and participating. And sometimes some of the guys,

most of the guys start teeing off on each other. You know, it just takes one person

to just

land a good shot.

Yeah. And it may be just a little bit too serious, a little bit too hard.

Yeah.

And the next thing you know, well, there's a return and then the return happens. And,

and then the return.

Yeah.

And then, you know, sometimes you see the coaches, come on, like pull it back and stuff

like that.

Yeah.

Maybe you just, can you explain how that works? Has that ever happened with you? I mean, and

how do you constrain yourself or restrain yourself from, you're a fighter.

Yeah.

And you're going to have a natural instinct to be a fighter. I mean, we, we can't describe

you as someone who can turn the craft on and off because that sounds a bit too mechanical.

You are naturally a fighter who knows how to fight. There's plenty of people know how

to fight who aren't fighters.

Like, you know, like I, I, I don't want to name them, but I know guys who got, know the

skill, but they're not natural fighters, therefore they never get to the levels you get to. The

levels you get to. You gotta be naturally, um, got to have the skills and you're going

to be a natural fighter.

Mm-hmm .

How do you manage to turn that thing off and turn that thing on? Um, not like at, at sparring,

especially we get clipped or would get buzzed a bit or something like you lose a bit of

judgment.

Yeah.

Yeah.

spas for i guess what you're working on and what you want to achieve from that spa sometimes it is

a very 50 50 competitive spa and you you maybe do have to turn it on a bit more and you do have to

try and hurt them to slow them down or whatever it might be and there'll be other spas where you

probably you might be levels above the other person and you do have to hold back and there's

no point that's practice exactly there's no point hurting them and getting them out of there because

then you're not getting the rounds you need yeah um because do you worry about getting injured

in that if you lose a little bit of your composure because composure is pretty important in the game

in your game yeah most people don't think that but it is um do you ever worry because you can

that's when you can get hurt i think i think it's really important as a fighter to not let

emotion take over and that can be very very difficult for a lot of fighters um even people

have been asking me about that i think it's really important to not let emotion take over

me about this fight next week there's been a bit of shit talk going on there has been a bit of shit

talk going on which is she's sort of undermining you yeah i don't like it it's not as an aussie i

don't like it yeah well that's what people have been saying to me like how do you feel about this

like i just think it's so important like no matter what's said before the fight no matter what

like how much she pokes the bear whatever is said i'm not going to fight her any other way

if that makes sense so you're not going to let her influence

your mindset exactly whatever she says whatever happens in the build-up what happens before that

first bell rings i'm going to box her exactly the same do but how do you block that out i mean how do

you keep your mindset on track as to the way as to your strategy i think that's what makes an elite

fighter um not letting emotion dictate how you fight um staying focused on the job staying focused

on the game plan and not

allowing anything to

allow you to stray from that it's very purposeful though it's uh it i mean unfortunately like we

not unfortunate but like there is a lot of entertainment value in boxing that's that's

what it's about yeah and we saw ronally last week um the thurman jarvis sort of um you know

before the event the showmanship yeah the showmanship and like to some extent that builds

builds up the you know the impact of the night and you've got to sell seats it's

pay-per-view etc also getting people to the event but it's it is really about pay-per-view

um and now we're thurman and zoo um and this is the build-up how do you go about that process

and what does eddie say to you like does he does he give you does he actually give you guys and say

hey listen uh we need a little bit of uh a little bit of you know action here a little bit of

excitement i mean how does it work he doesn't say that to me because i think he knows that i wouldn't

i'm not i'm never going to be a shit talker and i'm never gonna i guess

try and say things to to sell a fight i i feel like i personally don't need to do that and i

i i'm aware that that goes on and that a lot of what is said before fights is to sell a fight

um but that's why it's important to make sure you don't take any of that into the ring with you

um because most of it is just said as showmanship because after what they always shake hands and

it's happy again yeah but because the environment within which you're fighting is a lot different to

the australian local domestic scene um you know and you're you're part of the uh is it rehab what's

what do we call this uh the saudi the bathroom whatever it is sort of like part of what's going

on over there in europe or the middle east it's it's a lot more professional yeah it's uh it looks

a lot more serious and by the way the level of the fighters you know they're world champions so

you know and there's something on the line something

on the line particularly in your case um you know uh and then when you fight with on the eddie

hearns under the eddie hearns banner or the match with better they are extremely professional you

know i've had it on the show actually and uh like the way he operates and i'm not having a crack at

the australian guys but eddie's really professional it doesn't seem to me to be as much shit talk

going on with those guys as there as there is in a domestic environment how important is it do you

think for australian for boxing generally to compete with the ufc

for example that we maintain our composure and we don't turn it into a circus yeah i feel like

there is definitely always a line with all of that stuff um and it almost crosses over into that

misfits world a little bit i don't know if you've seen that's a big thing in the uk and the us at

the moment yeah um that at the end of the day boxing's boxing and if it's a good fight it's

gonna sell itself like my fight next week it's two undefeated fighters both had big amateur

wins as well both won medals on the world stage and both not really been

anywhere near close contests as professionals um that should sell a fight yeah on its own

exactly it doesn't it doesn't need any theatrics yeah it doesn't need theatrics

she's bringing some theatrics but it in my opinion it's it's not needed um

and i think good fights should sell

without that stuff i i understand it's placed in the boxing world and and it is entertaining

and people love it and it gets them excited about fights the crowd loves it they do and

i think there's certain personalities and and fighters that it suits more than others um

you never heard jeff horn no slate or disrespect an opponent ever or jeff ennick

jeff ennick there's so many there's so many there's a lot of fighters they

they let their boxing do the talking they let their fighting do the talking you don't need

all the all of the theatrics and i feel for me personally i'm the same as a queensland is jeff

horn someone that uh you look up to yeah i've known jeff for a long time i was actually just

thinking before when you were speaking about george um cambosis george cambosis there was a

a trip it was like queensland and new south wales development squad and we went to russia

in i'm gonna say 2000

2009 2010 and george cambosis jeff horn myself who else was there

it's quite funny like some of the names that were on that squad we were so young i would have been

14 um george probably would have been about 16 um yeah and to kind of see that 360 of us being

professional world champions all these years later it's really cool

what do you think about it what do you think about our australian athletes and what how do the people

over say let's say for example in the uk what do they think about us as an athletic nation

particularly in boxing i mean do you get do people say you know small country you guys do so well

i think for our small population australia is unbelievable at sport and i think they do have

that reputation um i think the fighters especially especially in the last few years with the likes of

george cambosis

beast unbelievable but that's kind of really putting boxing on the map and it's it's constantly

said that australian boxing's going so well at the moment australian boxing's got all these world

champions and this and that we're we're entering a new golden era and blah blah blah so i feel like

we are known for i guess producing good tough i think we've definitely got tough um

that that label um if you're fighting an australian fighter you know it's going to be a

tough fight um i feel like i haven't got that label personally has been tough yeah why i think

because i haven't had to really show any toughness yet as a professional because i remember this

people doubt my toughness the way they just said about tim if you remember a couple years ago but

he has displayed his toughness obviously he has yeah but they used to say that about tim because

he was always real clean fighter like very sparkly and he was always like he was always like he was

used to knock everyone out winning the second or third round yeah can i ask you because i think

it's important for your audience to understand what you mean by toughness so we're not talking

about uh um toughness where you know you get hit in the head 20 times and not go down yeah because

that's sort of like a stupid toughness i mean i mean i don't want to disrespect him like jeff

harding style i'm not talking about that type of toughness um i'm talking what what do you mean by

toughness because there's there's a there's a fine line between toughness and toughness

between toughness and stupidity in boxing yes i agree um what do you mean by toughness

i mean mental toughness probably more than anything if the fight gets tough and you've

got to bite down on your gum shield and go for it um the the cards are against you you're going

into the final couple of rounds jeff horn what he did to pacquiao yeah best example i think it's

round nine or something around nine he was basically the referee went up in the corner he

said if you don't show me something i'm going to stop the fight yeah

and that was that's lit that's literally exactly what i mean by no australian fighters being known

as well can you explain that though what do you think it what's going through people's mind what's

going through your mind in those situations toughness isn't something that can be taught

i think it has to be inside of you and i feel like you don't even know your own toughness until you're

in in deep waters and it's sink or swim and i think australian fighters are known to swim

and keep swimming what do you think it is what is that

i mean they say it about mexicans all the time that's sort of tough yeah that's and but it's

sort of understandable there's probably 170 million mexicans live there and uh you know

they're a mix between native people and spanish people i guess um you know so they've probably

got some sort of genetic mix going on that's pretty tough and they've probably had hard lives

a lot of them 100 correct they're all poor whereas australians not really i feel like

we're quite spoiled you're a posh voice so uh i'm a posh australian so i haven't had it tough

um so where do you get there for where do you get it from i i don't that's what i'm saying

though i don't think it's something you can examine it in yourself you ever examine it in

yourself where it comes from do you ever think yourself am i really tough i was thinking

yesterday at the beach when we were fighting these really aggressive waves that might have

something to do with that because we use that stuff that's why australians are tough because

they fight for their life every week don't know what said to me something like you know one of

you guys is all tough you got the snake the most poisonous snakes in the world you got the biggest

whales in the world the biggest sharks in the world the most poisonous spider and he actually

said that like uh and we take all that stuff for granted of course yeah especially where you come

from you don't even think about it box jellyfish all that sort of stuff um maybe it's because we're

just born into those environments yeah but that's what i was sort of saying before about the

difference between someone who's a born fighter and i think a born fighter is someone who actually

has that mental toughness and and can do what jeff horn did in that ninth or ninth round when

the referee said listen if you don't

show me something it's over and he got it and definitely showed him something and uh

you know and there's been a litany of australians who have shown that yes and do you think that

if you ever do you think that that has ever happened to you have you ever felt that in a

fight where my god if i don't show something not as a professional as an amateur yeah yeah

and in spas there's been spot there's been hard sparring sessions where i've had to bite down and

explain that through hard spars a lot we have a big female audience and a lot of them wouldn't

have really have no any understanding of that so what do you mean by the bite down like

i think remembering your why in those hard moments is so important um i think knowing yourself

i think for me like i want to be able to live with myself that's why i go into fights so confident

because i leave no stone unturned the one percent in the prep

yeah the one percents are so important you know that at the end of this it's only you getting in

there and it's only you that you have to live with afterwards so your corner can't help you

no except in between the rounds but other than that they can't help but they can't fight the

fight for you yeah you've got to fight the fight yourself and um i think sometimes my confidence

can be confused with arrogance by people but it's really not it's i have so much confidence

because i know i'm putting my best self in that ring on that day and i've done absolutely

everything to make sure that i'm going to be the best version of myself in there are you

are you a perfectionist i am a perfectionist in everything in everything that's your thing

yes yeah it it can be a blessing and a curse yep take me through the the curse part first

you can't be perfect all the time things can't be perfect life happens um there's

so many things and moving parts to everything all the time and i pick apart every little thing i do

and i'll have 125 rounds of sparring and 120 of them were literally perfect and i'll be focused

on those five rounds that weren't and is your process um okay let's say you did

10 rounds of sparring and you're like i'm gonna do this and i'm gonna do this and i'm gonna do this

today and eight were good, two were shit, and you'll sit down

and when do you start thinking about those two rounds?

Is it something you wake up in the morning?

From the second I get out of the ring.

What about when you go to bed and not when you go to sleep?

Still thinking about it.

And does it sort of impact your sleep?

Can it impact your sleep or your rest?

No, because then the other side of me kicks in,

that is my preparation needs to be perfect.

So that's pretty amazing though.

The switch.

That's pretty amazing though, being able to, that switch,

or turn the switch off and turn it on, turn the volume up,

turn the volume down because this is just noise.

These things tend to be noise.

Like someone like me, two in the morning, Jiminy Cricket gets on top

of me and he starts rubbing his fucking legs and I'm saying,

get the fuck out of here.

But it's hard to control.

I've got to get up, move around a bit and sort of do something

just to get it out of my head.

But the ability to be able to turn things up and turn things down,

whether you're in the ring or whether you're in bed trying

to stop analysing something because, you know,

it's moving.

It's more important that you rest.

Yes.

That's a big skill.

Have you always had that skill or is there something you've had

to work on?

I think it's something that has developed and something

I've perfected over the years.

Consciously?

Yeah.

I think the whoop.

Yeah.

Whoop club.

Gang gang.

I feel like that has been a big positive influence on preparation.

But it can also drive you crazy too though.

When you're a perfectionist, yes.

Like this morning, like I tell you, it's a quick story,

nothing to do with anything.

But I had to go for dinner with some of my business partners

from overseas and I never eat dinner after a certain time.

We ended up going to a restaurant, ate dinner late.

Did you eat in your daylight hours?

Mate, I put it on this morning.

I didn't have enough sleep.

This morning I just opened up my app and oh, my God, it's yellow.

Not a yellow recovery.

Yellow, yes, yellow recovery and heart rate variability,

the whole thing.

I went, oh, my God, like my world.

Because you ate late.

Because you ate late.

Yeah, I ate late and I didn't sleep properly.

My heart rate, my rest rate was up and blah, blah, blah.

But I know where you're coming from and that sort of stuff.

These are blessings.

I actually think I take the view if you can't measure it,

you can't manage it.

So that's the only thing in my life.

And I'd use it more for business performance, et cetera.

But I want to perform well.

I want to talk to people like you today.

And I had someone in before you and I have a long day

and I'm maturing in age.

So I want everything in my favor.

And it's great to hear a young person like you.

I mean, take that.

Take the side of you're an athlete and at a world level,

world title level.

But just as a young person being sort of obsessed.

Yeah, prioritizing.

That's a better word.

Rest and recovery.

Rest, recovery, and measurement.

Yes, balancing.

Yeah, and does the measurement assist you to get over those moments

when you can start to obsess about something and you know

that you should stop thinking about it and go to bloody sleep?

Yes, because now it's bedtime routine now.

Something else is doing it for you.

Mm-hmm.

And it'll tell you.

It'll tell you in the morning when you first get up and you sit down

and you have a quick look at what happened last night

or the previous 24 hours.

That's pretty amazing for a young woman or young man to be able to.

And I think you represent the modern athlete,

the modern fighting athlete.

I mean, like if I go back to the years of, you know,

Jeff and all those guys, Fennec and all those guys,

and all of them, I knew them all quite well.

I still know them quite well.

That discipline never existed, you know.

It was just mere instinct and basic talent.

Yeah.

Tough dudes who had great skills, but nothing else was measured.

Yeah.

Sure.

They knew how to lose weight.

Yeah.

To make weight.

But it was an extreme environment.

Mm-hmm.

They would just stop drinking water, stop eating food.

Yeah.

Literally for five, six days.

There's so much more science now.

So let's just talk about your team.

Mm-hmm.

In terms of all these other things.

So, you know, we talked about the sparring, et cetera.

That's important for your prep.

You're a 10-week and you do it in the UK and you get access to all these people.

But let's just talk a little bit about, you know, I said to you, how's your weight?

Mm-hmm.

You said, you know, it's on track.

But there's a little bit more science associated with weight.

Mm-hmm.

Who do you have in your team that helps you sort of make weight, make sure your nutrition

is right so you're not making weight but losing muscle?

You know, what do you do?

What's your process?

I've worked with a lot of nutritionists over the years and I've, the perfectionist that

I am, I've kind of developed the exact approach that I need.

So I know exactly-

For me.

For me.

I know exactly what I need to weigh a week out from the weigh-in, exactly what I need

to weigh a month out from the weigh-in, et cetera.

Is it because you've done it so many times?

I've done it so many times.

Yeah.

And I've been boxing at the same weight for years and years and years and years as well.

And I don't directly work with a nutritionist now.

This will probably be my fourth or fifth fight in a row as a professional that I've done

it completely all-

At featherweight?

My own.

Yeah.

By myself.

Without.

What would you normally walk around at?

I'd say 62 kilos would be my average-

It's good to lose five, six.

Five kilos.

Yeah, five kilos.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So that's pretty manageable.

It's very manageable.

Yeah.

I do feel like I am a good size featherweight.

You mean when you're fighting?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, I mean being a 57 kilo fighter that walks around at 62, I think that's a good

size to be.

Yeah.

I don't do anything dramatic to make the weight.

I'm not dehydrating myself to a point that it's going to affect me.

Yeah.

And it can.

It can.

I can physically make super bantamweight, but I don't see why I would.

I've seen world champions or one in particular, I won't say his name, who struggled to make

featherweight.

Mm-hmm.

In the men's, but got to featherweight and got hit on the chin and gone.

He lost his-

Exactly.

Mexican hit him and he's world title-

There's not enough fluid on the brain when you're doing those crazy weight cuts.

So for me, it's just important to be within three kilos-ish at the start of fight week.

I adjust my salt intake, my carb intake, my fiber intake, and the weight just falls off

you in those few days.

It's not real weight, but it's temporary weight that comes off just in time for the

weigh-in.

You weigh 57 kilos for about an hour, and then you-

Rehydrate and start eating.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's interesting, and most of your audience might know this, but you would think, oh,

stop eating meat and stop eating heavy stuff and I'll eat vegetables.

But the problem with vegetables is they hold water and they sit in your gut.

And they sit in your gut.

Mm-hmm.

It's good for you, but it holds weight.

Yeah.

And what you don't do is you-

It sounds like you've got the science yourself.

Mm-hmm.

I have worked with nutritionists for a long time.

You've borrowed the science-

So I've learned from them, yes.

And you've learned what works for you, and you put yourself through that process.

Yeah.

What about once you've finished a fight?

I mean, I've always get intrigued with fighters when they finish a fight.

A lot of fighters do different things.

Some stop training and just give me cake and stuff like that.

I've definitely done a lot of that, and I've also learned a lot from that as well.

Well, now you're the world champion.

Yes.

So everyone's going to want a piece of you.

Mm-hmm.

And they're all going to be tapping you, and also the WBC, there's expectations as

to who you'll fight, and you could sort of fight any time.

Mm-hmm.

You really can't take your foot off the pedal, can you?

I mean, a little bit.

It's all about balance.

It's an intensity game.

I think as a young fighter, you've made weight, you've been dieting, you've been training

really hard, the fight's over, you want to eat everything in sight.

You think, I need to eat everything-

I deserve it.

I couldn't eat all of this stuff for 10 weeks, and I'm going to start camp again, and I'm

not going to be able to have any of it again, and you blow out.

And I've definitely done a lot of that.

I feel like now, I live the life all year round.

So professional, truly professional.

Yeah.

But accept it.

Accepting it.

You're not fighting against it.

You actually accept it.

I actually enjoy this lifestyle better.

Yeah.

I definitely indulge.

I indulge, and I enjoy the things that I have missed while I've been preparing for

the fight, but kind of in a much more controlled way.

Yeah, so you don't overindulge.

Yeah, I don't overindulge, and I don't just go from training two or three times a day

to sitting on the sofa or doing no exercise until I start camping again.

Yeah, with a big bag of chips and an ice cream.

Yeah.

Freed up.

Netflix.

Believe me, I've done all of it.

I've done it all.

And now, I realize how good physical exercise is.

And training is, for me, mentally and physically, that after a fight, I am still training.

Well, not even training.

I wouldn't even call it training, but I am exercising.

I am going and doing different training, gym classes and Barry's boot camps and going for

runs and just doing stuff that I enjoy and it makes me feel good.

And when I start camp, I'm in so much of a better position.

I feel so good starting.

I'm not, it's not starting again.

It's not like you've just had weeks of eating shit, doing nothing, and your fitness levels

have gone back to zero.

And it's like that really hard fight at the start.

That's why I only do a 10-week camp as well.

I don't need any longer than that.

I'm already starting camp in a really good place because I keep the body ticking over.

I don't get too heavy in weight.

I don't blow out and become a big fat alcoholic.

Do you know what I mean?

Like, I just, I enjoy the down time.

The down time in a way that's still going to positively affect my next training camp.

It's interesting.

You keep, I mean, I keep getting in my mind that if I could sort of define you in terms

of the way you're speaking is very purposeful in everything you do and not, you're not putting

yourself through the ringer because if you make it too hard for yourself, you're going

to sort of resent it a bit.

And you've actually, it sounds like you've adopted a lifestyle around your professional

career, your athleticism and, you know, what it requires for you to be this person at the

top.

You've adopted, you've said, well, that's my lifestyle.

Yeah.

I like being healthy.

Is that sort of the summary?

I mean, it's pretty simple.

Definitely.

I feel like you, you can feel in yourself, I know if I haven't exercised or trained,

I feel like shit.

I don't feel happy.

I don't feel excited about life.

And you go for a run and your whole mood can change.

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If you asked me that three years ago,

the thought of going for a run was the worst thing in the world.

Because you're associated with hard work.

Yeah, I hate it.

I'll never like running.

You could never convince me to like running.

I don't know how people like running.

It's crazy.

And now I'm like the biggest advocate for running.

I love it.

It's so good for you.

Like the feeling when you're done, your whole day will change.

People like you fascinate me because I often wonder to myself,

is this a genetic thing?

Is it like in her genes or his genes to be this person?

I'm not just talking about the talent, the natural athletic talent,

but I'm talking about the mindset, the ability to put your mind to something.

And of course, if you don't mind, if I just touch on it for a second,

you know, you do have...

You have had other family members or one other family member who was in your life.

I don't think you ever met your brother, but unfortunately,

but he was a great fighter, a great boxer.

How much of that, if you don't mind me asking the question,

it's an obvious question for me anyway,

how much of that has influenced you to become a fighter?

Maybe you just tell the story first.

Yeah.

So I had two brothers that passed away in a car accident in 1994.

I was born in 1995, so I never, ever met Jamie and Gavin.

But I obviously grew up in a household that celebrated their lives every day.

So I grew up hearing about these two amazing people that everyone I love loved so much.

And it's such a strange thing to try and explain to someone,

but I feel like I knew them too,

because I've grown up learning so much about everything they did.

They were 10 and 22.

22 years of age and 10 years of age.

Yeah.

And just the way they are celebrated in my household and by family and friends,

the way they talked about their personalities, who they were as people, what they did,

I feel like I know them and I knew them.

It's, yeah, it's really, really hard to explain in words.

But I feel like I lost them just like everyone else did.

And it was a...

It was a car accident.

Yeah, a car accident.

It was like a Tuesday night on the way to boxing training in a storm on the Gold Coast.

Was he the younger brother?

Was he also doing boxing?

Yeah, they were going to boxing training together.

Right.

Yeah.

So Jamie was 22, arguably one of the best amateur boxers to ever come out of Australia.

I remember.

Was ranked number one in the world as an amateur, Commonwealth Games medalist, Olympian.

As you, as yourself.

Yeah.

School teacher.

All by 22 though.

Like that's impressive.

Wow.

He was fighting men at the men's world championships at 17 years old and won Australia's first

ever men's world championship medal.

I won Australia's first ever women's world championship medal.

I think I was like 21.

So it was pretty impressive what he did.

Yeah, bloody oath.

He did.

Yeah.

He.

He had some pretty impressive.

He had some pretty impressive stats for a 22 year old.

And when I, when I, you know, knew you were coming in today and I was thinking about you

and I was thinking about him, I was wondering to myself, sort of going back to my question,

I was wondering to myself, is there a gene in her family, um, which is, you know, which

is passed on by mom and dad, obviously, um, that makes them fighters or was Sky influenced

by this romantic, because you never met him, but a romantic, I don't mean in a romantic

sense.

But a romanticizing about someone who was her brother or two brothers who she never

got to meet and romantic, the romanticism of it was so strong that it got her to become

a fighter as well.

I mean, I wonder about that.

I thought to myself, is it just a genetic thing she's automatically going to do because

that's what she's meant to do physically?

Or was it, it could be a combination of both, or was it because she wanted to meet him,

um, and never got a chance to.

Yeah.

And the best way to meet him is meet him.

At his skill, the thing he was known for, the thing you knew him for, what do you reckon

it is?

Have you ever thought about that?

I, um, I always grew up as a young child thinking I was so much like Gavin.

So Gavin had started boxing.

He was only 10.

So you can only just start boxing at 10.

I think he'd had maybe eight or nine fights.

In Queensland.

Something like that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

By the way, not in New South Wales.

Oh yeah, sorry.

It's 14 in New South Wales as well.

No, it's older.

Yeah.

He's older in New South Wales.

And a lot of people send their kid up there.

Yeah.

They train down here and they go on their box.

They all go off and box in Queensland.

Yeah.

I know.

So Gavin had just started boxing, but he was very into like musical theatre and performing.

Like drama.

Yeah, drama.

He was really into the performing arts.

And so was I growing up.

So I kind of always felt like I had that connection with Gavin.

I heard about how amazing Jamie was all the time as well, but I never really saw that

same connection.

Because boxing, seeing females boxing back then was like very, very, very rare, unheard

of really.

And it was never even something that was talked about or considered in the household.

Actually it wasn't even great to watch, to be honest with you.

No.

But it is now.

It's getting there.

No, no, it is now.

It absolutely is now.

It's about rugby league, women's rugby league.

It was pretty average, but now it's great.

And boxing is the same for females now.

So the thought of me ever being a boxer was just never something that was even ever considered.

Never considered in my household.

So I did, as a younger child, always feel quite connected to Gavin in the sense that

I loved being in musicals and drama, acting.

And when I started going into the boxing gym, my oldest brother, Alan, is a boxing coach.

And we have a local boxing club in Yatla, up in Queensland.

And I was just finishing primary school.

You said that like an old school.

And I was a Yatla.

Yatla.

The Yatla Battler.

If the English was Yatala.

Yeah.

Go on, sorry.

I couldn't resist.

I was in the Christmas holidays between finishing year seven and starting year eight, which

at the time was the primary school to high school changeover.

And I kind of just started going for fitness, confidence.

There was definitely never anything in my mind that I would ever fight.

But I really did enjoy the training and I was really enjoying going and I was 12 years

old and there was a couple of other boys the same age as me starting at the same time.

So we were all training together and we started doing a bit of the partner work drills.

Then it became sparring and they were getting ready to get their blue books and their medicals

done.

A blue book is your little record book.

I don't know if it's still the same thing.

Yeah, it's still a blue book.

Absolutely.

I thought it would be all electronic now.

You still have a blue book.

But yeah, it's basically like your record book.

It's your box rec in a little handwritten book.

Which you must have all the time.

Which you must have on you to weigh in, to fight, to get the doctor to sign off before

you box.

Anyway, I wanted a blue book.

The boys were getting blue books.

I've been doing all the same training as them.

Where's my blue book?

I've been sparring them.

I'm just as good as them, if not better.

I want a blue book.

So it was almost a little bit of an argument slash convincing mum and dad that I'm ready

for a blue book and I want to do it, which I think they were quite shocked by.

They knew I was going up there a couple of nights a week, but they couldn't believe that

their 12-year-old daughter actually wanted to go to the boxing tournaments, weigh in

and potentially fight.

My brother convinced them.

They said, he said, you got to watch.

She's actually really good.

There's glimpses of Jamie in her, same Southpaw stance, counter boxer.

She'll be fine.

And mum and dad, don't worry.

Like, what are the chances of there being another 45 kilo, 12-year-old girl at the show?

Like, keep her happy.

She's enjoying coming to the training.

Lo and behold, first weigh in, another girl there, 45 kilos.

She's had five fights.

I don't care.

Put me in, mum and dad, I'm ready.

Had my first fight and never, ever looked back.

I won.

You cleaned her up?

Good on you.

I won.

We ended up fighting each other 10 times.

Whoa.

Between the ages of 12 and 18 because there wasn't many girls.

Yeah, we boxed.

Yeah, we boxed.

She's probably the one girl I boxed 10 times.

A few others came close.

There was a couple I boxed eight times, six times, but boxed each other 10 times.

That's 30 rounds.

Yeah.

And the rounds.

Over the years.

Actually, there was a couple of four two-minute rounds in there.

Yeah, four twos.

When it changed to youths.

Yeah.

It changes all the time, but basically before the women went to three threes, the women

were four twos.

Right.

So our last fight was four twos when we were 17, 18 years old.

But yeah, from that date, it was February 2008.

I don't think I've ever spent more than a few weeks out of a boxing gym.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I couldn't imagine my life have gone any other way.

Because you said to me, one of the things that helps you out or you work with is your

why.

Yeah.

Why do you do it?

Why do you fight for a living?

I just love boxing.

But what is it about it?

I really love boxing.

I love winning.

I love the feeling of at the end of the fight, all of that hard work paying off.

I love the-

The sense of achievement?

Sense of achievement?

Sense of achievement, definitely.

Yeah.

But I feel like it's more of a just like a deep love for boxing, for the sport of boxing.

I love the art of boxing.

That's important, the art of boxing.

Yeah.

The skill of boxing.

That hit and not get hit.

Yeah.

That's the perfectionist in me a little bit.

I get annoyed if I get hit a couple of times, which is quite funny as a professional boxer.

But I actually get annoyed with myself if I get caught with a shot.

Do you describe yourself as a counter puncher?

Yeah.

I think we're slowly becoming a more all-round fighter.

Which means you push forward and you put a bit of pressure on people?

Yeah.

We've got tricks in the trick bag if we need them.

But I think I'm always going to naturally be a counter boxer.

I think we're becoming a more aggressive counter boxer.

There's a lot more punches being thrown now.

In that, you step back on-

Are you saying you get back on your back?

You get back on your back foot and then you throw more punches?

I apply pressure without punching, causing them to commit to punching, and then I make

them miss and then I make them pay.

Right.

It's beautiful.

And throwing punches and bunches.

You're not just throwing, when you said you're throwing more punches.

Exactly.

So, yeah, we've been really trying to develop punch output, especially in this camp, instead

of just single shots, going through the gears, putting more combinations together.

Yeah.

Being more aggressive.

So, can you just explain to your audience something here for a moment?

Because, as I said earlier, a lot of people have never fought.

So, often we see a fight and we think, and you hear the commentators and they're saying,

well, you know, he's just throwing like a jab and maybe one, two.

And then the commentators will say, look, you've got to throw more than that.

You've got to throw, you know, three or four or five, whatever.

Punches and bunches, and they often say that.

How hard is it when you get back to your corner and you sit down on,

I'm assuming you do sit down.

I don't.

Yeah, you sit down in your stool.

I stand.

You stand.

Okay, you stand up.

And your trainer says to you, mate, you've got to get more busy.

Yeah.

Yeah, because, you know, there are-

I've heard that a few times.

Yep.

How, okay.

Yeah, well, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

How hard is it for you to do that?

Like, to apply that?

I mean, like, because just explain what's going on in your head at that time.

And sometimes, you know, you're sort of out, strategy can be whatever it is.

Yeah.

But once you're in the middle of the ring and especially if you get,

you get touched up a bit, the whole strategy goes out and then you've got

to start making a plan as you go.

And then you get to the corner, corner saying, you know, breathe, breathe,

breathe.

And then they're saying, you've got to throw more punches,

you've got to get more aggressive.

How do you, what do you do to yourself?

What are you doing?

Especially in the latter rounds where you're starting to get a bit of,

you know, fatigue.

I think you have to listen to your corner and you have to trust your corner,

you have to trust your team.

So if they're saying you need to do more, you need to do more.

I think the perfection, the perfectionist in me, as I said before,

can sometimes be a curse.

I'm in that fight like constantly and consistently assessing everything,

every millisecond.

Of your opponent.

Of my opponent, what she's doing, what I'm doing.

And if I let three or four shots go, there's a chance that I'm going to be open

to her.

Landing a shot for a few seconds longer than if I just throw one or two and then get out

again and reset.

Yeah.

So there's a lot of thinking and assessing going on all the time.

Can you over, can you, can you overthink it though?

I mean, can you, you as a person.

Yes, you can.

And I think that's.

As a perfectionist.

Yes.

And I think that's something that has been something that we've really, really worked

on, especially in this camp, um, to not overthink those situations.

Yeah.

And sometimes you just have to.

Just bite down.

Yeah.

And go for it.

And that's what inspiring.

Yeah.

That's what, that's what you practice.

Cause a lot of people refer to training, but I like to refer to it as practice.

I think it's a better word.

Yeah.

And you're practicing your, your craft.

Yes.

It's been a process, especially with me being such a perfectionist, um, to now be at the

point where it's happening naturally and I'm not having to overthink that process.

And it's just.

It's more instinctive.

It's more.

Yeah.

It's, it's happening.

It's happening off instinct now, um, which has been such a positive, I guess, outcome

from this training camp, um, stuff that I've had to force and be quite uncomfortable doing

for so long, um, inspiring over the last couple of years to now it just being there naturally

and happening on its own.

Um, so that in the fight, if I'm in a position where I need to do those things, it's all

there and it's going to happen naturally for me and I'm not going to have to spend energy

thinking.

And over assessing, how do I do this perfectly because it's just going to be there and it's

just going to happen.

Can you think to yourself back when you were 14 and you went off to, I think you said Russia

as a, as a, as a small crew, um, and Campbell's George was there and now you're, you and he,

uh, is it a co-main event?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, uh, you, the co-main event at Kudos, um, you're on an Aussie soil, which is fantastic.

Um, did you, do you reckon you ever thought?

Did you ever think to yourself and maybe, or what point in your career did you ever

think to yourself, I'm going to be the world champion and I, I, why I think I can be the

world champion and be doing co-main events with guys like George Kambosis, et cetera.

It's, um.

It's pretty freaky.

It is.

It's, I have pinch me moments all the time where I think back to little me.

14 year old me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And just like how I had absolutely no idea the journey.

That was going to unfold even 20 year old me.

It's just, it's crazy.

Like 20 year old me hadn't been to the Commonwealth games, Olympics, but you did turn professional

and I go on and do all those things, become a world champion.

And I had no idea.

I just loved boxing.

I still love boxing, but I just loved the sport so much.

I loved the challenge.

I loved the pressure, the expectation.

I don't know.

There's something about it that just pushes me and moments like Saturday night, walking

out into that arena on home soil, undefeated fighter versus undefeated fighter for the

WBC world title.

Like it's just goosebumps moments.

I think it's going to be fantastic.

I do.

I've always wanted to, excuse me.

I've always wanted to ask.

I have asked many people this same question, but.

The transition, you mentioned Commonwealth games, Olympic games, an amateur career, the

transition from amateur to professional.

And I must say, I'm not that familiar with female amateurs, but male amateurs into professional,

there's a big difference between the style, you know, like ask Harry Garside, you know.

Yeah.

I mean, like they, you know, they jump in and jump out.

Like it's about tapping and points and stuff like that.

It's not much inside.

What was your transition like?

I think I went into the professionals very, what's the word?

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Blase about the transition.

I'll be sweet.

I'll just do what I do in the amateurs, in the pros.

It worked for the first few fights, to be fair.

Yeah.

But as the fights got more serious, I wasn't doing six rounders anymore or eight rounders

anymore.

I was doing 10 rounders.

I was fighting for belts, and I was fighting real professionals who were not going to be

phased by my tapping and moving.

I had a hard learning fight.

I won't say which one.

Okay.

But I had a hard learning fight where a...

Flick switched.

Switch...

Switch flicked.

Switch flicked.

Yeah, switch flicked.

Where a switch flicked, and I realized I need to actually listen to my coaches and be open

to learning how to fight like a professional.

Change my style.

Explain what that means.

What do you mean by fighting like a professional?

What's the difference?

Change my style.

Change my style.

Change my style.

Change my style.

Change my approach.

To what, though?

To change your style to what?

This isn't just point scoring, amateur boxing anymore.

This is sitting down on your shots, hurting your opponent, punching with spite.

Being prepared to cop it back.

Yes, without over-assessing it.

And yeah, I think after that fight, I realized that's what I was doing.

That's what I needed to do, and I needed to go all in on my pro career.

That was also when I decided I wasn't going to go back to the amateurs and do the Olympics

because obviously my first year as a pro, I still had my sights set on going back for

Paris 2024.

It was kind of a bit of a time filler for me to turn professional.

It wasn't really ever something I was excited about.

That quickly changed.

I absolutely fell in love with professional boxing.

I fell in love with the...

The lights, camera, action side of it.

I love the...

It's a much bigger event.

Yeah, the excitement of it all.

And when it was time to make that final decision, if I was going to go back to the national team,

come back to Australia, go through the qualifying processes...

Because there's only two you turn around between the previous Olympics because of COVID.

And the qualifying process.

Yeah.

I had basically got myself into a position where I was one fight away from being mandatory

for Amanda Serrano, who's...

Who at the time was undisputed in the featherweight division.

And my goals had changed.

And that meant working very hard in the gym to make myself a professional fighter and

not an amateur boxer anymore.

There's a big difference.

I mean, it'd be good just to...

How did you feel about that transition?

Like, I know you just sort of explained it.

Yeah, it's been a process.

It's a mental transition, isn't it?

There was a mental transition, definitely.

I think that fight that I was speaking about changed something in me mentally, where I

realised I can't just get away with boxing and point scoring and picking single shots

and moving away.

And I realised I was going to be in real fights against real professionals who are coming

to fight.

They're going to be there all night.

And that that style of point scoring and punching and moving away all the time wasn't

going to work anymore.

And I did have to stand and fight.

Not all the time, because I'm not a brawler.

I'm not going to stand and have a...

Toe-toe.

Yeah, have a toe-to-toe, especially when that would play to my opponent's strengths more

than my own.

I wouldn't do that.

But time and place for things.

And I think...

Since that moment, it's been all about adding tricks to the trick bag.

And I feel like it's been a long process, but we're there.

I feel like we're getting closer all the time to being the full package, an all-round fighter

that can do it all.

I can stand toe-to-toe and fight.

I can box and move.

I can apply pressure with or without punches.

I can...

Set the pace.

I can set the pace of the fight.

I can stay in control of the pace of the fight.

All of these things, that has been a really big work in progress with my team.

And I feel like it's all coming together perfectly for this big fight.

So, and last week or about a week or two before His Excellency Turkia...

Turkey, yeah.

I'd say Turkey, but you say Turkey, but I said Turkey.

Made a big announcement.

Yeah.

And you're potentially one of the beneficiaries of these types of announcements.

I know that Joab Ataya has been fought in those Riyadh environments.

I know that George is pretty excited about it.

It's about people getting, being properly rewarded for the effort they make as boxers.

How do you feel about that announcement?

And also Dana White now sort of helping him manage it.

Yeah.

I mean, I think it can only be good for boxing.

I think they're looking at a whole new league system approach to boxing, which could be refreshing, I'm sure.

I hope that we're going to see more women's boxing included.

It's been quite absent from Riyadh season, which has been quite disappointing for the women's boxing community globally.

I didn't realize that.

There hasn't been a lot of women's fights.

Literally only my one fight.

Right.

That's it.

Yeah.

Wow.

On any Riyadh season card.

Is that because they're looking for a certain type of level, do you think?

I don't think that because there's big women's fights happening around the world and they're not being put on that platform, which has been quite disappointing.

Well, Dana's pro women UFC fighters.

He is.

Very much so.

And like it's pretty even.

So I see that as quite a promising thing, hopefully, for women's boxing.

And I hope that their league, the TKO thing that they've announced is going to include women boxing and women fighters because I think women's boxing was in a really, really good place a couple of years ago and it's kind of going through a little bit of a lull right now.

So, yeah, I think it's an exciting time for boxing, but for women's boxing too, hopefully.

So given that, and I know, as you said, I think the announcer is going to be called TKO.

Mm-hmm.

And I'm wondering if TKO is going to be.

It's going to be equivalent to WBC, WBO, IBF, blah, blah, blah, WBA.

It's seeming like that, yeah.

And as the UFC, the unified one, do you ever see yourself, is it a dream of yours to unify your position?

Of course.

I'm known as the future undisputed.

I'm on all the belts.

Yeah, so, okay.

So who would be your, you know, subject to what happens on Saturday?

Who would be your next dream opponent?

Well.

Hanging on the door of Amanda Serrano for two and a half years.

She was the undisputed champion at featherweight.

We got into mandatory position with the WBC.

She vacated the belt and has shown zero interest in a fight with me, which is frustrating.

She vacated another belt recently who it's now being held by a German fighter.

Nina Meinker.

So there's always an option there to pick up a second belt in the division.

What did you say it was?

She's got the WBA.

WBA, right.

I think.

Yeah.

No, she doesn't.

IBF?

IBF.

I think she's got the IBF.

Right.

Anyway.

You want to have all the belts, though.

Yeah.

Yeah.

My full focus is on the 22nd of March and defending the WBC belt.

Correct.

I get it.

But looking forward, there is a belt being held by a German girl.

She is a Southpaw as well.

Wow.

Which makes for an interesting fight.

Have you fought many Southpaws?

Amanda Serrano is also a Southpaw.

Wow.

That'd be interesting.

I have fought many Southpaws, not as a professional, only one as a professional, but I've fought

many Southpaws in my 150 amateur fights.

That's a big amateur.

That's a big amateur career, by the way.

One of the biggest female amateur careers in the world.

That's a big amateur career.

Even for a boy.

Yeah.

That's a big amateur career.

It's a lot of fights.

Yeah.

I mean, Tim Zhu had nothing like that.

No.

Tim might not have even had 50.

I'd say he probably had 20.

Wow.

20 amateur fights.

Yeah.

So that's huge.

Yeah.

Would many of your other, you know, any of the other girls holding in different protocols

like WBA, WBA, IBF, et cetera, would they have had the same amateur careers as you?

Not many.

Not many in the world have.

That's a huge amateur career.

Yeah.

I didn't realize it was so large.

Yeah.

That's amazing.

I think I've probably, I think still to this day, I've had the most fights as a female

amateur.

Out of Australia.

But I'd be up there in the, probably at least in the top 10, but maybe even top five in

the world, how many fights I've had.

And what do you think that, I mean, like you look at Costas or someone like that who had

like, I don't know, like in those days.

My brother had 300 and something.

I was going to say Costas had something like 300.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

When you, when you say, what, what does a long amateur career like, or a dense amateur

career do for a fighter who then is, becomes a professional?

Because if everyone used to say Costa, you know, like had an unbelievable long amateur

career in the Soviet Union and he had to fight people from every country he used to

battle.

Yeah.

And then they used to say that's, that's his baseline.

That's, that's what gives him his foundation.

Yeah.

What do you think your long amateur career or your dense amateur career gave to you?

Because you.

Same thing, I believe.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm, I'm, I mean, you're, you're fighting in tournaments constantly.

You don't have any say in who you fight.

You're getting in there with whoever the draw puts you with.

You're fighting different styles day after day, back to back.

You should explain it because like, that's important.

You just know one fight.

It's not, it's not the professionals where you do a 10 week camp for one exact style,

one person.

Explain it.

You go into a tournament, you weigh in that morning, you fight that afternoon, you win,

you weigh in again the next morning, you fight someone else.

You can't put the weight back on.

You don't put the weight back on.

No, it's very, very different.

And I feel like having all those fights, I've seen it all.

I've seen that nothing Tiara Brown could bring next on Saturday that I haven't seen before

because I've fought every kind of style, shape, size, tall, skinny girls with arms longer

than my legs, short, stocky, strong girls that can punch like a mule.

Bolly over.

Yeah.

Left-handers, right-handers.

Right-handers, switch dancers, all of it.

I've seen it all.

I've been in there with all of them.

So is that a big, is confidence a really important point to you?

Like, is that a confidence factor or is it, or is it actually, I'm confident because I

built skills around having fortunes about every style and size and whatever.

I think it definitely gives me more confidence knowing the pedigree, knowing that I've done

it all.

I've been there.

I've seen it.

I've been in there with the.

I've been the best of the best, I've fought Olympic champions, world champions, beat Olympic

champions, world champions.

I mean, my confidence mainly comes from my preparation, knowing myself, knowing I haven't

taken shortcuts, knowing I've trained smart.

That's a big thing in my team that we constantly talk about.

It's easier to over.

Over-train than under-train and same with the, the whoop and the stats on there.

Um, we're all about training smarter rather than harder because every fighter, every fighter

wants to train as hard as they possibly can.

And it's so easy to burn out.

It's so easy to over-train and not bring your best self.

So there's days where I really want to train and go for it and I'm pulled back, but I know

it's for the greater good.

It's that balance.

And I feel like all of those little things.

All of those 1% is what gives me the confidence to go into the fight, knowing you can't beat

me because I'm my best me and my best me doesn't get beat.

The foundation of 150 amateur fights is, is amazing.

Um, and, and as you say, you fought at every level.

So com games, Olympics, state, blah, blah, blah, um, worlds.

So you have, you have this great foundation, which I think maybe when you get to the rounds,

hopefully it doesn't go this far.

But like, you know, you get early, get in early, but like as you get longer in the

rounds and you start to get a bit of fatigue, that's when that foundation becomes really

important.

I mean, it's apart from your prep, your 10 week prep.

That foundation is critical.

Like, like I've seen lots of fighters who haven't got that foundation and they can fall

apart a little bit.

Come undone.

Yeah.

Totally.

Because boxing's a mind game.

Yeah.

You are there, as you said earlier, you are the only person in the middle of that, that,

that square.

And, uh, it's just you.

Boxing's 90% mental.

Yeah.

The physical preparation's important, but it's, when you're in that fight, it's 90%

mental.

And it seems to me that you are, you know, like to me right now, you are mentally perfectly

prepared.

And I've seen other fighters where I, I mean, I interviewed quite a few of them last week

for Fox Sports and, um, I just watched the outcomes and I know that they weren't really

mentally ready.

They were, they were projecting mental readiness.

They were projecting readiness, but I could just tell.

Yeah.

And from, and I, I remember when George Cambosis fought, walked out, walked out of the, down

the pathway thing there towards the ring and when he fought Lopez, uh, there was a look

in George's eye.

And I said to someone, I was, I was watching the fight and I, and I, I'm telling you, and

I said to someone, wow, he looks like he's going to win this.

Yeah.

He just had the look.

Yeah.

I don't want to go over all the bullshit about the eye of the tiger, but he did have that

look.

He had the eye of the tiger.

He did have that look.

Yeah.

He had that look.

Yeah.

And I'm just looking at you now.

You're giving me that feeling.

Yeah.

Like, uh, and I'm pretty good at assessing people.

Like, uh, I've been around a long time, so I don't know if I've done a lot.

You're giving me that look.

Do you feel that person?

Or am I just imagining it because I want to, want the Aussie to, to be the killer?

I feel it.

Yeah.

I can see it.

I can see the confidence in you.

I think.

I hate to play you cards.

I think a lot of people think I put out this, um, persona of confidence.

But it's not.

It's not arrogance.

It's not arrogance.

It's, it's being so self-aware and having no doubts in everything I've done.

And I know myself so well.

And you're not bullshitting yourself because you got the foundations that it would fall

back on.

If you bullshit yourself, it's only you in the ring.

Like I said.

Yeah.

You get found out.

You get found out.

Yeah.

I'm not going to embarrass myself like that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm not going to let myself down.

I'm not going to let my team down.

And by the way, your country.

I'm not going to let my nation down.

Yeah.

Your country's barracking for you.

So you wouldn't, you wouldn't put that out there knowing deep down that you, you hadn't

done the right things.

You hadn't prepared properly.

You hadn't, you weren't bringing your best self.

I love that.

You wouldn't, you wouldn't put that out there.

Yeah.

Bringing your best self or the best version of Sky Nicholson is going to be brought on

Saturday night into that ring.

And the best version of Sky Nicholson does not get beat by anyone.

Not by Tiara Brown, not by any featherweight female on the planet.

Well, that'll do me.

That's awesome.

Thanks very much.

Good luck.

Thank you.

Thank you.

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