Skye Nicolson is Vegas-bound for her first major title fight.

A previously ordered vacant WBC 126-pound title bout between Australia’s Nicolson and Sarah Mahfoud is now set for April 6 at Fontainbleau Las Vegas. Matchroom Boxing confirmed its placement along with the full undercard for the previously announced DAZN show.

“April 6 in Las Vegas my dream of becoming World Champion will finally become a reality,” said Nicolson, The Ring’s No. 5-ranked featherweight. “My team and I have worked tirelessly towards this moment. Capturing the prestigious green and gold WBC belt will be the first major step towards becoming the Undisputed champion.

“And the new!”

Nicolson (9-0, 1 knockout) previously won and defended the interim WBC featherweight title in back-to-back appearances to end her globetrotting 2023 campaign. The 28-year-old southpaw won four fights in as many countries on the year.

The last of the batch saw Nicolson—a quarterfinalist for Australia in the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics—earn her first stoppage as a pro. It came in last November 25, when she halted Lucy Wildheart in the ninth round of their interim title fight.

A title fight versus Puerto Rico’s Serrano (46-2-1, 30 KOs), The Ring 126-pound champion and No. 4 pound-for-pound, was in Nicolson’s sights but never came to fruition. Serrano instead vacated the belt over the sanctioning body’s refusal sanction 12 three-minute rounds.

Nicolson was subsequently ordered to face Denmark’s Mahfoud (14-1, 3 KOs), a former IBF featherweight titlist. Mahfoud, No. 1 at 126 by The Ring, has won three in a row, all in 2023 and in her native Denmark. Her lone defeat came to Serrano via ten-round, unanimous decision in their Sept. 2022 WBC/IBF/WBO unification bout in Manchester, England.

In her most recent start, Mahfoud outpointed Marcela Ellana Acuna last October 7 in Copenhagen. She was previously due to face unbeaten Michela Braga on January 13 but withdrew from the fight once the fight versus Nicolson was ordered by the WBC.

Mahfoud will make her U.S. debut. It will mark the fourth stateside appearance for Nicolson, whose March 2022 pro debut was on the Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez-Julio Cesar Martinez DAZN undercard in San Diego, California.

Nicolson also fought twice in New York City. The most recent was a ten-round points win over Tania Alvarez last February at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater. She added victories in Cardiff, Tijuana and Dublin on the year.

Nicolson-Mahfoud will serve as the lone title fight of the current April 6 show.

As previously announced, the show is headlined by the Richardson Hitchins-Gustavo Lemos IBF 140-pound title eliminator, along with Ring No. 8 168-pound contender Diego Pacheco (20-0, 17 KOs) versus Shawn McCalman (15-0, 7 KOs) in a scheduled 12-round bout. The undercard will also include 2020 Olympic Gold medalist Galal Yafai (6-0, 4 KOs), Birmingham, England, versus Argentina’s Agustin Mauro Gauto (21-1, 15 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round flyweight contest.

Jake Donovan a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Follow @JakeNDaBox

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