For years people told her she was the spitting image of brother Jamie, Australia's first boxer to win a world championship medal.

Nicolson used to just smile and shrugged because Jamie was the brother she never met.

Jamie was 22 when he and younger brother Gavin died in a car accident in 1994. Skye Nicolson was born the following year.

So when she scrambled through library footage at the AIS as a teenager, Nicolson finally saw it.

It was the uncanny resemblance. The counter punch, the southpaw stance, the determination and the talent.

The similarities helped draw them together even though their careers were decades apart.

Skye won bronze at the world championships in Kazakhstan last year, 27 years after her brother achieved the same feat in Moscow in 1989.

Next on the list is the Commonwealth Games. Skye will fight for her ticket to the Gold Coast at the Commonwealth Games trials in Punchbowl on Thursday to follow the same path her brother walked in 1990.

"I feel like I almost knew him in a way because I have this clear, clear image of a brother I never knew," Skye said.

"I've always grown up knowing about Jamie and Gavin - we celebrate the lives they had. Jamie did so much by the time he was 22, it was unbelievable.

"I didn't always look at Jamie as my inspiration. I didn't even watch videos of him fight until I was an adult. Everyone has told me since I was 12 that I fight just like him.

"But I didn't see it for myself until I was 18. We watched his Commonwealth Games fight, and that was awesome. That's when it hit me - we did box the same. It's like people are watching him when they watch me - tricky, evasive, southpaw fighters.

"There are weird little things like that I don't think it's a coincidence. I feel like he's living through me, but I still want to be known as my own person and athlete.

"Mum and dad are used to it now, but the first few fights were pretty emotional for them. I know there were tears.

"My older brother Allan had told them about [the similarities with Jamie], but it wasn't until they saw it that they realised.

"I think I've grown and developed into my own boxer. But I still think it's a bit of deja vu for mum and dad. I don't feel pressure to live up to a certain standard, it's just a brother and sister who are both good at the same sport."

But Skye Nicolson almost never made it to the world championships or the Commonwealth Games trials.

The 22-year-old lost motivation after her Olympic Games bid was crushed when she lost to Shelley Watts at the final hurdle.

Nicolson considered quitting the sport she had grown up with and she lost the desire to make her weight division. But deep down the fire was still burning.

"This time is my time," Nicolson says with a steely determination.

"I had to ask myself if missing the Olympics was it. I was 20 years old ... to give up then, I just knew I would regret it for the rest of my life so I had to get back on the horse.

"It was hard to take, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And I definitely feel like that experience has made me more determined."

Boxing is in Nicolson's blood. She still trains in the gym at the back of her parents' house in Yatala and her father Allan was the Boxing Queensland secretary.

She started boxing when she was 12 after just eight weeks of training. A decade later with 101 fights under her belt, Nicolson wants to chase a medal with home crowd support just kilometres down the road from where she grew up.

Nicolson is now based at the AIS as part of the Boxing Australia program and is still coached by long-time mentor Wayne Tolton as she chases medals at the Commonwealth Games and Olympics in 2020.

She had to move away from everything she knows in a bid to take the next step in her career. But Nicolson said it was the logical step to chase her next goals after her bronze medal at the world titles.

Nicolson won her first three fights at the world titles but had to settle for bronze after losing to eventual gold medallist, Wen-Lu Wang of China, last year.

Her improvement was so rapid she beat Wang three months later in Bulgaria before deciding to drop a weight division to compete at 57 kilograms.

The weight change has helped transform her goals and she now wants to win gold at the Commonwealth Games as part of her journey to the Tokyo Olympics.

However, the first step is facing Carly Salmon in her first fight at the Australian championships in Sydney, which double as the selection trials to compete on the Gold Coast.

"I know what I want and what my dream is. This sacrifice will be worth it to live my dream. It was a no-brainer," Nicolson said.

"I've always wanted to win, but it became my goal to win gold when I decided I was going to go in the 57 kilogram division. That's my best chance of winning gold internationally.

"The boxing arena for the Commonwealth Games is 15 minutes from home. I'm so excited for that and a home crowd can be the difference between bronze and gold.

"Yes, there's more pressure, but it's positive pressure. I think I'm addicted to winning and the pride of representing Australia."