A significant first step was taken in the quest to crown an undisputed 122-pound champion.
BoxingScene.com has learned that Ellie Scotney and Segolene Lefebvre have agreed to terms for a bout to unify the IBF and WBO junior featherweight belts. The battle of unbeaten titlists is eyed for the already announced April 13 DAZN show from AO Arena in Manchester.
Scotney will risk her IBF title for the second time, while Lefebvre will attempt the second defense of her second WBO title reign.
France’s Lefebvre (18-0, 1KO) was on board all along to fight for a second major title. The 30-year-old from Douai–roughly 2 ½ hours north of Paris—immediately agreed to terms when first presented with the opportunity to face Catford’s Scotney (8-0, 0KOs), who was keen to face any of her divisional rivals.
Lefebvre previously won the WBO title in a November 2021 ten-round, unanimous decision over Paulette Valenzuela. She made one successful defense for the WBO denied an injury exception request in late 2022 and stripped her of the title. The belt was won by Deborah Anahi Dionicius, whom Lefebvire outpointed last April 29 in her Douai hometown. One defense followed, a ten-round majority decision over Tysie Gallagher last November also in Douai. Scotney was fast-tracked to her first major title.
The only delay was in the rescheduled fight date for her challenge of then-reigning IBF titlist Cherneka Johnson. The bout was originally budgeted for the May 20 show in Dublin topped by the first Chantelle Cameron-Katie Taylor 140-pound championship but was bumped—at the request of Cameron’s team—from the card.
Scotney received her well-deserved opportunity three weeks later on the June 10 Sunny Edwards-Andres Campos DAZN card at OVO Arena Wembley in London. The 25-year-old Brit soundly outpointed Johnson to win the title, which she defended in a ten-round virtual shutout of Laura Soledad Griffa last September.
Scotney-Lefebvre is part of a bigger goal set out by Matchroom Boxing to fully unify the junior featherweight division. WBA titlist Erika Cruz (17-2, 3KOs) was previously tabbed to enter the mix but is currently obligated to honor or settle her ordered mandatory title defense versus Argentina’s Nazarena Romero (13-0-1, 7KOs).
The division’s other remaining titlist is Yamileth Mercado, who holds the WBC title. Boxing Scene has learned that a Cruz-Mercado unification bout is also being explored, whether next or after Cruz satisfies her mandatory title defense.
The one set unification bout within the division is one of at least two confirmed major title fights for the April 13 DAZN show. Cheshire’s Rhiannon Dixon (9-0, 1KOs) will face Argentina’s Karen Elizabeth Carabajal for the vacant WBO lightweight title. Headlining the show, Manchester’s own Zelfa Barrett (30-2, 16KOs) meets Cambridgeshire’s Jordan Gill (28-2-1, 9KOs) in a 12-round junior lightweight battle.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox