Ellie Scotney: “I want to pick up all the titles at super-bantamweight, so for now, that is my main aim. But I do want to be a multi-weight world champion.”

Ellie Scotney: “I want to pick up all the titles at super-bantamweight, so for now, that is my main aim. But I do want to be a multi-weight world champion.”

Nobody can really compete with Roberto Duran, certainly not this old scribe. Not for the first time, Ellie Scotney is watching I Am Duran, that quite wonderful and insightful documentary on the life and times of the legendary Panamanian. I feel her pain when we connect over Zoom, as she has to press pause on the glorious tales of Duran to speak to me.

Duran was known not only for his ring prowess but also for his wild antics outside of the ring. He could party perhaps like no man or woman before or since. Scotney is nothing like her hero.

Last month, Scotney didn’t celebrate her famous victory last month, which earned her the IBF super-bantamweight world title, with any Duran-style exuberance. She was nowhere to be seen in the fight hotel in the hours after her win in London. While her contemporaries lined up at the hotel bar with credit cards in hand, Scotney had long since checked out.

“I went straight home, and I had a cup of tea with my mum. That was as bright as it got that night. I didn’t even watch the rest of the show. As soon as I had boxed, I just went home with my mum.” Scotney told FightPost.

The IBF super-bantamweight champion of the world has made boxing her life. Outside of her family and her faith, there is little else.

“My world is so small compared to the average person. But to me, that is all I need. It is all boxing, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.” A fighter at peace. A fighter consumed by her sport. I start to feel guilty for interrupting her night with Duran. There is no divorce from the sport that she loves. There aren’t even thoughts of a trial separation. Make no mistake, Scotney is all in.

On turning professional in 2020, there were references to Katie Taylor. And with good reason. Time will tell if her ring achievements come anywhere close to matching what Taylor has achieved, but there are similarities elsewhere. Like Taylor, Scotney is deeply religious. But the pair are paired with the lack of a champagne lifestyle. Expensive bubbles are replaced by a nice brew of Yorkshire Tea for the Catford fighter. The professional belts she has amassed so far, including her IBF bauble, are not on display on some pretentious Scotney Wall of Fame.

“I promise you all my belts are just in the corner of my living room just collecting dust. They are literally just hidden away in a corner.” Scotney won’t get consumed by her success. Level-headed and grounded, in many ways, she is on the right path.

There were early frustrations in her career. Covid delayed her professional debut. Injuries added to her early stop-start entry into the pro ranks. A change in trainer added another minor obstacle to overcome. But the move to Shane McGuigan was always going to be a rewarding one. History tells us that.

A fight with Jorgelina Guanini in February of 2022 was tougher than it should have been. But there were reasons. But everything clicked into place three months later when she impressively outpointed the former world champion, Maria Cecilia Roman. It was the turning point of her career.

“In my fourth fight against Guanini, there was a lot going on outside the ring. I made the weight terribly wrong. Looking back, I probably shouldn’t have even boxed. It was me at around 65% of what I could do. I was very angry at how I boxed, but I still managed to get the win, but I knew it wasn’t me in there, and that was the biggest frustration,” Scotney says processing a definitive night in her career.

“I can remember Chris Billiam-Smith doing an interview, and he said when I first joined, I was probably caught between two styles from that transaction side of things. I didn’t know what type of fighter I wanted to be, and I was probably fighting a style that didn’t suit me,” Scotney added. “When I let go of that pressure and found my feet, I found out the sort of fighter I wanted to be. I didn’t want to change. I didn’t have to change, but I thought I did, I just had to add and realise my style makes me different, and that’s what I did.”

The McGuigan stable is beyond flourishing. With more to come. Much more. In Caroline Dubois and Adam Azim, he might well have the best two prospects in the sport. The importance of McGuigan to her career isn’t lost on Scotney.

“Shane is a great coach. He takes his time with us, whether you are a debutant or a world champion. He gives you the same amount of time. Shane is probably the most patient person I have met, and I am including my school year and my mother. In the moment that he is teaching, he is patient in the way he breaks it all down for us. I just think it is how patient he is when he is in that moment. When he is teaching, I think time means nothing to him. Shane is very big on body mechanics and he researches everything. He can break something down that is very complicated and can make it really simple to understand, and you will see it gradually coming out. The positioning on the pads, the way he sets things up, and you don’t realise it at the time. But I can watch a fight back, and I can remember throwing that, and it all plays out.”

Scotney is almost certainly her harshest critic, but McGuigan is a coach who demands excellence. They are well-matched in many ways.

“He is probably the worst out of all of us. It is a very highly successful gym, and there is a lot of pressure for whoever is fighting, we have very high standards, and he has also. Shane is always striving for more, and I work better like that.

“If you are not striving to improve and think you have done everything right, that is a worrying place to be. There is always room for improvement, and you can always get better.”

Last month at London’s famous old Wembley Arena, Scotney won her maiden world title courtesy of a dominant points victory over Cherneka Johnson. But ever critical, Scotney still saw signs of improvement for what lies ahead.

“I know I can box better, I show that in the gym. But I hadn’t boxed for nine months, the pressure of my first world title. I watched it back, I won it very comfortably but I know there is a lot more to come. That was only my seventh fight, and I am sure that will play out that way in the next few fights,” Scotney said.

“I had some niggles leading up to the fight. I tore my calf so I couldn’t run, and my shoulder was playing up. It was really annoying. I picked up a bug and I was in bed for three days straight, it was good for making weight, but still. But once the first bell rings it’s all irrelevant anyway, it’s all put to bed. It’s just you and your opponent.”

The aftermath brought relief. And plenty of emotion. A few tears were shed. It didn’t just mean something. It meant everything. A fighter who hasn’t had the push, or the luck, her talents deserve. The whispers told us how good she was. But she had to prove it. She did.

“A lot went into it, and it meant a lot. It was a relief that I did it. In your head, you know what level you are, but I just had to get that world title to my name to prove it to everyone else. But until you do it, it is all smoke and mirrors.”

It was in 2008 when Scotney was just 9, that she had an epiphany. Before her eyes, her future was already being formed. A big cruiserweight unification got her attention.

“Internally. winning the world title, it is life-changing, I can’t even begin to tell you. I can remember watching David Haye fighting Enzo Maccarinelli on my cousins’ floor, eating a bag of Skittles, and the mindfulness of what I was watching,” Scotney said reminiscing. “As soon as I walked into a gym, it wasn’t the amateurs I was introduced to first. I can remember going to Brentwood and watching Kevin Mitchell. So I was always around it. It was sentimental for more than just me. It was for my family as well, so I know it will be life-changing as time goes on.”

Scotney is already planning her return.

“I’m looking at the end of September because that’s what I wanted. I want the momentum and the activity, Scotney told FightPost, hoping to avoid any more periods of inactivity. “Not boxing for nine months is a long time. So, for me, that’s key. I believe it will be a defence of my title, and then I will look for a unification by the end of the year.”

Winning one world clearly isn’t enough for the ambitious young fighter. Scotney is nowhere near her peak. She will only get better. A difficult start now in the rearview mirror. Scotney is now targeting undisputed and more.

“I want to pick up all the titles at super-bantamweight, so for now, that is my main aim. But I do want to be a multi-weight world champion.”