Ellie Scotney barely slept a wink after arriving on the title stage.
The unbeaten 25-year old hit paydirt with a dominant ten-round points win over IBF junior featherweight titlist Cherneka Johnson last Saturday at OVO Arena Wembley in London. Catford’s Scotney won her first major title in just her seventh pro fight with the feat, though hardly prepared to rest on her laurels.
“There’s a new kid on the block now,” Scotney noted after the convincing win. “I’ll be honest… that was probably one of my bad performances but I got the job done. “(Johnson) come and showed how tough she really is. She got a bad cut like she did in her last fight. She carried on and full credit to her.”
Scotney (7-0, 0KOs) won their DAZN-aired bout by well-earned scores of 98-92, 98-92 and 97-93 to win the belt more than seven months after making her way to the mandatory challenger position. Johnson attempted the second defense of the IBF title in a ten-round, majority decision over Melissa Esquivel last April 20 in Melbourne where the New Zealander now lives and trains.
Despite the title win just 32 months into her career, Scotney has traveled a difficult path to arrive on this stage. Her fourth pro fight was a close but well-earned win over former title challenger Jorgelina Guanini last February, followed by a far more dominant victory over former titlist Maria Cecilia Roman last May 21 at The O2. Scotney then outpointed Mary Romero in their EBU title fight and IBF title eliminator last October 29 at OVO Arena Wembley.
In that same vein, Scotney and her team want nothing but the best moving forward.
Mexico City’s Yamileth Mercado (21-3, 5KOs) has held the WBC 122-pound title since November 2019. Segolene Lefebvre (17-0, 1KO) regained her wrongly stripped WBO belt with a ten-round victory over Debora Anahi Dionicius in their April 29 mandatory title fight in her hometown of Doaui, France. Rounding out the list is Venezuela’s two-division and reigning WBA titleholder Mayerlin Rivas (17-4-3, 11KOs), who Scotney’s team believes will be next in line.
“There were a lot of people who thought Ellie Scotney was an elite fighter. It was just a matter of time before she was world champion,” Eddie Hearn, Scotney’s promoter, insisted. “This was life changing for her. I don’t think she’s someone who just wins a world title, it’s their moment and it’s the biggest thing. No, she’s got to be undisputed.
‘I think she can go through all the other champions. That’s the great thing about women’s boxing. They fight champion after champion after champion. There’s no reason why within eighteen months she can be fighting for the undisputed title.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox