Skye Nicolson kept Miyo Yoshida chasing for 10 rounds, using her longer reach and lead right hand to win a unanimous decision and retain her WBC super bantamweight title Sunday night at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas.

The judges scored it 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92 for Nicolson in her first defense as full champion at 122 pounds. Neither fighter went down on the ESPN card headlined by Elif Turhan and Alycia Baumgardner.

Less than a pound separated the fighters at the weigh-in, but Nicolson had about five inches of reach on Yoshida. That advantage showed each time Yoshida had to step in to throw. The challenger landed several rights in the opening round, but Nicolson answered with left hands and body shots. By the third, Nicolson (17-1, 3 KOs) was catching Yoshida with the lead right as she came forward.

Yoshida (19-6, 1 KO) had one of her better spells in the fourth, backing Nicolson up with a flurry. Nicolson countered with a right and tied her up before she could build on it. In the fifth, Nicolson went from circling away to pressing Yoshida, 38, toward the ropes, where she landed a right hook. Yoshida had to stay ready for Nicolson to come forward even as she tried to cut off the ring.

The Japanese challenger kept finding short rights in the clinches in the sixth and seventh and landed on the way in during the eighth. The trouble came whenever Nicolson got clear. Yoshida had to start her approach again, and Nicolson, 31, could get back to scoring with both hands from outside. Yoshida put combinations together in the ninth, but Nicolson caught her with a counter left and an uppercut. The champion worked quick uppercuts into her combinations in the tenth as Yoshida pursued her to the final bell.

Yoshida was trying to win a world title in a third weight class after holding belts at 115 and 118 pounds. She showed she could make Nicolson uncomfortable once she got close, particularly when she led with more than one punch. She spent too much of the fight trying to get back there.

For Nicolson, the result was her first successful defense since being elevated from interim to full champion in May. The former WBC featherweight champion had been due to face Yoshida in Britain in August before an injury delayed the bout. She made her MVP debut in Arlington and came away with the belt still in hand and a possible unification ahead.

Claressa Shields’ promoter Dmitriy Salita has accused Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions of demanding a $25,000 penalty every time the undisputed heavyweight champion made negative comments about Paul or MVP.

The allegation emerged as the dispute over a proposed fight between Shields and Chantelle Cameron intensified, with both sides blaming each other for the breakdown in negotiations.

“MVP insisted on a $25,000 liquidated-damages payment each time Claressa made a statement they viewed as negative toward Jake Paul or MVP,” Salita stated on social media, while also sending his comments directly to World Boxing News.

“We would not agree to terms that put a price on a fighter’s speech. We did agree to a standard, mutual non-disparagement clause.”

Shields vs. Cameron Negotiations

The latest exchange followed public statements from Cameron, Shields and MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian.

Cameron said she wanted the fight for her legacy but acknowledged that negotiations had stalled.

Shields then said her side initially offered $1.1 million before MVP returned with a $1.5 million demand.

Bidarian disputed the suggestion that MVP was responsible for the fight falling apart, insisting his company had agreed to a guaranteed deal for Cameron despite having no involvement in the event.

“That guaranteed pay for our fighter was then reneged on by them and reduced by 27%,” Bidarian alleged.

He also claimed disagreements over expenses, including per diems and security, had become sticking points.

“It felt like we were agreeing to a low-budget production, which is not how we present our athletes,” he said.

Bidarian maintained that Cameron’s proposed payment was consistent with her previous major fights and said MVP had given Salita’s team a final opportunity to return to the original offer.

Word Reveals $1.1M Offer

Salita responded by accusing MVP of taking negotiations public rather than working privately to complete the deal.

“By taking these negotiations public, you showed that you were looking for a way to say no, not a way to make this fight,” he said.

Salita confirmed that his side had offered $1.1 million, plus an escalating percentage of ticket sales from the first dollar.

He argued that Shields’ history of generating seven-figure gates meant the additional revenue could have substantially increased Cameron’s total payment.

Salita also rejected the suggestion that disagreements over daily expenses had prevented the fight from being signed.

“In more than 30 years as a fighter and promoter, I’ve never seen a million-dollar fight defined by a per diem disagreement,” he stated.

“As we say in boxing, there are a million ways to say no and one way to say yes.”

Despite the increasingly personal exchanges, Salita insisted his team remained willing to negotiate.

“We have always wanted Claressa vs. Chantelle, and we remain ready to work with MVP to make it happen,” he said.

For now, the proposed fight remains unsigned, with both sides publicly disputing who is responsible for the impasse.

About the Author

Phil Jay is the Editor-in-Chief of World Boxing News (WBN), a BWAA-acknowledged boxing news website founded in 2010. A veteran boxing reporter with 16 years of experience, he has interviewed world champions, broken international exclusives, and reported ringside from major events. His work is published worldwide through WBN and distributed on platforms including Apple News.

Read Phil Jay’s full bio and latest stories.

Tony Yoka has put together five consecutive wins, yet his heavyweight rebuild is chewing through critical years without showing that he has resolved the flaws exposed in his three career defeats. Saturday’s 59-55 points win over Kostiantyn Dovbyshchenko in Manchester kept the streak alive, but against opposition well below the standard required of a serious contender.

Six rounds against a durable Ukrainian journeyman on the Buatsi–Hutchinson undercard told us nothing new about the 2016 Olympic gold medalist Yoka. Over the past three years, the former Olympic champion has merely padded out his record while keeping his true ceiling carefully hidden from view.

Yoka controlled the range behind his jab and timed the Ukrainian with rear-hand uppercuts on the way in. What he failed to do was capitalize on that control. His corner repeatedly called for more spite, but Yoka settled for single shots instead of putting together sustained flurries.

Dovbyshchenko has never been stopped, so a decision win is not an embarrassment on paper. The red flag was Yoka’s refusal to turn up the heat on a fighter offering minimal return fire. That hesitation points to an uncomfortable reality: this run has not restored his confidence, it has simply matched him with opposition he can outpoint without evolving.

Yoka still left the ring with a bloody nose and a cut above his eye. Those marks are not catastrophic, but they highlight the danger of letting an aggressive target march forward unpunished. Against punchers with real stopping power, landing early leads means nothing if he cannot survive the inside exchanges that follow.

Scrapped bouts with Lawrence Okolie and Murat Gassiev account for the layoff, and taking Saturday’s contest on a few hours’ notice showed professionalism. Neither factor alters the urgency of his situation.

At 34, padding the record with routine six-round assignments brings zero value. A sink-or-swim test against someone like Frazer Clarke would finally answer whether Yoka can stand firm when an opponent walks straight through his jab.

Queensberry can keep finding him rounds. Finding a win that restores his credibility is the real challenge, and after five tune-ups, that test is long overdue.