Nobody was more thrilled than Skye Nicolson when Tiara Brown offered public proof that she found her pen in time to finalize their fight.

There has been plenty of back and forth between the pair of unbeaten featherweights, who will meet on March 22 in Sydney, Australia. Nicolson (12-0, 1 KO), The Ring’s No. 1 featherweight contender, will attempt the third defense of her WBC title.

Brown (18-0, 11 KOs) is Nicolson’s mandatory challenger and has been vocal for months about landing the assignment. Their verbal exchanges have been the subject of lengthy social media debates, which now finally makes its way to the ring.

“She can keep talking but all will come to light on fight night,” Nicolson told The Ring. “She will understand why I’m world champion and she’s not.”

Nicolson-Brown will land on the undercard of the Matchroom Boxing-promoted George Kambosos-Daud Yordan DAZN show.

Nicolson won the vacant WBC title in a ten-round virtual shutout of former IBF featherweight titlist Sarah Mahfoud (15-2, 3 KOs) last April 6 in Las Vegas. The unbeaten southpaw—a 2020 Olympic quarterfinalist for Australia—insisted on fighting for the full version of the belt rather than accepting an upgrade from interim title status.

The belt became available when The Ring and unified featherweight champion Amanda Serrano (47-3-1, 31 KOs) vacated late in 2023. There was a rift over the sanctioning body refusing to accommodate Serrano’s demand for her fights to take place over twelve, three-minute rounds.

Nicolson was the interim titlist and Serrano’s WBC mandatory at the time. She openly campaigned for the fight—and still very much wants it.

First, she aims to knock out the tail end of back-to-back mandatory title defenses. She effortlessly outpointed unbeaten Raven Chapman last Oct. 12 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Brown was always on deck but first asked for a stay-busy fight, which she received in a Jan. 18 eight-round decision win over journeywoman Calista Silgado in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Brown called out Nicolson after the fight but then took another week to finally sign and return the contract to finalize their fight.

Going that route meant back-to-back mandatory defenses, which was fine to Nicolson. The fight with Brown was always in her sights in that regard, mainly to clear it off her plate and target blockbuster fights later in the year.

For now, it’s the confident challenger and all the bulletin board material she’s provided that has Nicolson’s undivided attention.

“Tiara talks a lot, she’s convinced herself of a storyline,” insisted Nicolson. “She’s going to be rudely shocked when she’s in that ring with me.”