Skye Nicolson was elevated to full WBC super bantamweight world champion after Ellie Scotney vacated the title to enhance weight, with terms agreed for the Australian to defend the belt against Japan’s Miyo Yoshida in her first appearance as champion.

Nicolson, 30, had been the WBC interim 122-pound champion since December 2025 and was the mandatory challenger to Scotney’s title. Scotney, who unified all four WBC super bantamweight belts on April 26 at Madison Square Garden with a unanimous decision victory over Mayelli Flores Rosquero, announced her decision to relinquish the WBC belt and move up to featherweight earlier this month. The WBC confirmed Nicolson’s elevation in a statement, with sanctioning body president Mauricio Sulaimán noting the organization would announce a process to crown a fresh champion following Scotney’s departure.

Thanks to the upgrade, Nicolson (16-1, 3 KO) will become the world champion in two weight categories. She previously held the WBC featherweight title, winning it from Sarah Mahfoud via unanimous decision in April 2024 before losing it to Tiara Brown via split decision in March 2025. Nicolson dropped down to 122 pounds for her next fight and won the WBC interim title via unanimous decision with a win over Yulihan Luna in December. Since losing to Brown, she has won four in a row, most recently on April 29 in Melbourne, defeating Up-to-date Zealand’s Mariah Turner over ten rounds to retain the interim belt, resulting in a points deduction against Turner in the final round.

Yoshida (19-5, 1 KO), a 38-year-old resident of Kagoshima, Japan, is a former IBF bantamweight titleholder and two-time WBO junior bantamweight champion. Throughout her final promotional stint, she was billed as a three-time world champion in two divisions. Her last outing was a unanimous decision win over Beata Dudek in February 2025. All five of Yoshida’s career losses have been by decision, including two defeats to Shurretta Metcalf, the second of which cost her the 2024 IBF bantamweight title.

The date and location of the Nicolson-Yoshida concert have not been announced.

Canelo Alvarez named the fighter he believes most deserves a moment of passing the torch, perhaps not in the ring, but rather in a non-fight sense.

As a fan of fighters from his home country, the 35-year-old can’t wait to see who emerges as the next face of Mexican boxing.

Many would still consider Canelo the leading star in Mexican boxing even if his next fight is against WBC super middleweight world champion Christian Mbillawill take place on September 12 in Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, David Benavidez is widely expected to be a key player on Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence Day weekends, especially given his stellar performance against Gilberto Ramirez earlier this month.

But instead of highlighting Benavidez as the man to follow in his footsteps, Canelo suggested that Jaime Munguia deserves to inherit his metaphorical torch.

Munguia lost a unanimous decision to Alvarez in 2024, but has since teamed up with his compatriot, training under head coach Eddy Reynoso.

This partnership proved particularly successful earlier this month when the 29-year-old became a two-weight world champion, unanimously defeating and dethroning Armando Resendiz to win the WBA super middleweight belt.

While talking to Ring MagazineCanelo stressed that his stablemate is a worthy candidate to take up his torch.

“I would like to pass the torch to Munguia. Why not? He has learned a lot [under Reynoso]. He works very rigid and is a very good guy, so he deserves everything.

While Munguia may have been a hard-working athlete, it certainly raised eyebrows when Munguia tested positive for drugs last year and was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing by the relevant governing and sanctioning bodies.

Most Valuable Promotions returns to ESPN on Saturday night with MVPW-03, a twelve-fight card at the El Paso County Coliseum built around four women’s title fights and led by a double main event: WBA lightweight champion Stephanie Han against Holly Holm in a rematch and unified featherweight champion Amanda Serrano against German Cheyenne Hanson. The main card begins at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. Preliminary bouts will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

Him vs. Holm 2

Stephanie Han (12-0, 3 KO) will defend her WBA lightweight title against Holly Holm (34-3-3, 9 KO) over ten three-minute rounds. The fight is being fought on the same principles of equal opportunity that both sides applied during their first meeting on January 3 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The fight ended in the seventh round after an accidental clash of heads resulted in a cut to Han’s eye, which the ringside doctor deemed too earnest to continue. Han received a technical decision with scores of 69-65, 69-64 and 68-65 for Most Valuable Promotions. Holm immediately demanded a rematch, and Han’s promoter agreed.

Han is 35 years elderly, from El Paso, and a full-time police officer who turned professional in 2021. She won the WBA belt after a first-round knockout of Hannah Terlep in February 2025 and is starting her third defense. Holm, 44, of Albuquerque, returned to boxing in June after a twelve-year absence spent in mixed martial arts, where she won the UFC women’s bantamweight title in 2015 by defeating Ronda Rousey. Holm stopped Yolanda Vega in her return to boxing last year under the Jake Paul-Julio César Chávez Jr. card. Saturday’s victory will give her the world champion title in the fourth weight category.

You can read Boxing Insider’s coverage of the first fight in Puerto Rico here.

As Holm enters fight week, the Ronda Rousey storyline is circulating again. Rousey returned to competition on May 16 at the first MVP event and submitted Gina Carano in 17 seconds, after which she announced that she was withdrawing from the competition. When asked about chatting about a rematch, Holm said MMA fight: “I highly doubt she’ll ever want a rematch. I’ve always said since the last fight that I would always have a rematch with her. It was always available.” Holm added: “The reason it was so critical to beat her was because she was so dominant. I have all the respect for her.”

Serrano vs. Hanson

Amanda Serrano (48-4-1, 31 KO) will defend her WBA and WBO featherweight titles against German Cheyenne “Pepper” Hanson (17-2, 13 KO) over ten three-minute rounds. This is Hanson’s first world title fight. He’s starting a nine-game winning streak with seven stoppages Illustrated sports.

Serrano will pick up a unanimous decision victory over Reina Tellez on Jan. 3 in San Juan, on the same card that produced Han-Holm 1. She said KTSM in El Paso that the booking was a return of the favor. “Listen, I didn’t think twice when I found out Stephanie Han had a rematch with Holly in El Paso,” Serrano said. “They came and opened up for me. It was my second main event in Puerto Rico, in my hometown, so it was a huge honor for me that they could share that night with me. I thought, what? They’re coming back in a rematch from El Paso, I need to be on this card. Please let me in. And they did.”

The rest of the main card

Two additional world title fights open the four-fight ESPN broadcast.

Australian Desley Robinson (11-3, 4 KO) will defend her IBF and WBO middleweight titles against Mary Spencer (10-3, 6 KO) of Ontario, Canada in a ten-round 160-pound fight. Spencer is a former WBA junior middleweight world champion.

Mexican Lourdes “La Pequeña Lulu” Juarez (39-4, 5 KO) will defend her WBC junior flyweight title against Costa Rica’s Yokasta Valle (34-3, 10 KO) over ten rounds. Valle, a three-division world champion, won her seventh world title with the victory.

Introductory card

The undercard, streaming on ESPN+ from 3:30 p.m. ET, features ten fights with a mix of men’s and women’s fights:

• Yesica Nery Plata (30-3, 3 KO) vs. Brook Sibrian (9-2, 4 KO), eight rounds, lightweight
• Reina Tellez (13-1-1, 5 KO) vs. Juliana Basualdo (14-7, 3 KO), eight rounds, featherweight
• Miranda Reyes (8-3-1, 3 KO) vs. Camilla Panatta (8-3-1, 1 KO), eight rounds, super featherweight
• Jocelyn Camarillo (6-0, 1 KO) vs. Yazmin Martinez (3-3-2, 1 KO)
• Iyana Verduzco (7-0, 1 KO) vs. TBA
• Elise Soto (10-0, 9 KO) vs. Thalia Joseline Limon (4-1, 3 KO)
• Alexis Chaparro (7-0, 6 KO) vs. Edward Ulloa (15-7, 12 KO)
• Alexander Gueche (11-0, 7 KO) vs. Joshua Montoya (7-4-2)
• Nazarena Romero (14-1-2, 8 KO) vs. Maria Salinas (27-14-6, 7 KOs)
• Albina Moldazhanova (3-0, 3 KO) vs. Claudia Herrera (5-6-1, 2 KO)

How to watch

Main card: 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, streaming on ESPN Select and ESPN Unlimited, at Yahoo Sports. Preliminary card: 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+. The official weigh-in will take place on Friday at 6 p.m. MT at the El Paso County Coliseum and will be streamed on MVP’s YouTube channel and ESPN+.