Nicolson vs Vargas Predictions: Skye can neutralise the knockout artist

Skye Nicolson will make the first defence of her WBC featherweight championship against Dyana Vargas on Saturday, July 13. The world title bout will take place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Nicolson vs Vargas will feature on the undercard of the IBF welterweight championship fight between Jaron Ennis and David Avanesyan. The full card airs live on DAZN.

Here are my Nicolson vs Vargas predictions ahead of this WBC title scrap.

For a while, Nicolson was tarred with the same brush as many Matchroom fighters. The Australian found herself accused of being overprotected and overhyped, a product of marketing and manoeuvring. 

Such assertions were frankly ridiculous. The online dissenters conveniently glossed over Nicolson’s Commonwealth Games gold medal and her bronze at the World Championships. Computer keyboards tapped out snark when the Queensland southpaw knocked off opponents they perceived as soft in her early pro fights. But many amateur prospects face journeyman pros in their early outings, gaining vital experience along the way.

This fundamental lack of understanding about how boxing works was silenced by Nicolson’s continued rise. She knocked off Tania Alvarez, who hadn’t lost before and hasn’t since, going on to become European champion. Nicolson followed that up with wins over former world champions Linda Lecca and Sabrina Perez. 

The latter win earned Skye the WBC interim title. After a knockout win over Lucy Wildheart, Nicolson fought for the real thing. In her last fight, the Aussie beat Sarah Mahfoud, another ex-champ, to capture the famous green belt. Considering the fact the great Amanda Serrano is the only other fighter to beat Mahfoud, it was quite some win.

The never-happy online moaners will find something to criticise I’m sure, but Nicolson looks the part so far. Now she gets a chance to fortify her world championship status against something of an unknown quantity. 

Vargas’ 19-1 record doesn’t sparkle with big names and it is surely the WBC Latino belt she holds that has positioned ‘La Maquina’ for this opportunity. Her sole loss came against unbeaten prospect Vivian Rodriguez. Vargas has won three on the trot since that defeat.

The most interesting aspect of Vargas’ game is her power. Women’s boxing generates few true punchers in the same way as the men’s game does. The shorter rounds and physical differences do not lend themselves to frequent stoppages. But Vargas has finished 12 of her 19 foes, with seven of those victims falling in the first round.

That power could be the X factor against Nicolson, who has halted just one of her 10 professional opponents.

Nicolson vs Vargas Fight Odds

Nicolson goes into her first title defence as a 1/50 favourite. Vargas is priced at 14/1, despite that undeniable knockout power. The draw is available at 25/1.

Nicolson vs Vargas Full Card

Jaron Ennis vs. David Avanesyan; For Ennis' IBF welterweight title 

Henry Lebron vs. Christopher Diaz-Velez; Super featherweight 

Jalil Major Hackett vs. Peter Dobson; Welterweight 

Skye Nicolson vs. Dyana Vargas; For Nicolson's WBC women's featherweight title 

Khalil Coe vs. Manuel Gallegos; Light heavyweight 

Dennis Thompson vs. TBA; Bantamweight 

Ismail Muhammad vs. TBA; Welterweight 

Christian Carto vs. TBA; Bantamweight

Nicolson vs Vargas Prediction

Despite Vargas carrying a considerable whack, I am backing Nicolson to box her way out of trouble here. I don’t think picking the Australian by decision is much of a stretch here considering she usually looks to box rather than brawl.

I am expecting a comfortable decision win for Nicolson here. She might have to feel that Vargas power early on, but I think she’ll smartly avoid most of her opponent’s offence. Nicolson on points is the play, available at 1/6.

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