Ellie Scotney: The Road To Undisputed & More

Ellie Scotney: The Road To Undisputed & More

A highly decorated amateur. An unbeaten unified world super-bantamweight champion. Ellie Scotney shouldn’t have needed a coming-out party. But on Friday night, that’s exactly what Scotney had. And what she needed.

Scotney has somewhat struggled for the limelight in her professional career. Probably the purest boxer on her side of the sport, Scotney needed and deserved a bigger push. But it didn’t quite happen for her. But now that she is aligned with Jake Paul, you sense that her career will get everything it has been looking for. In simple terms, it has changed everything for her.

Scotney added the WBC bauble to her collection of sanctioning bodies belts when she emphatically outpointed the Mexican Yamileth Mercado on Friday night at Madison Square Garden in New York. The unified WBC, IBF, and WBO world super-bantamweight champion now only has one belt left to collect. Another Mexican, Mayelli Flores Rosquero, and her WBA title will be the obvious next target. One final piece of boxing jewellery for the right to be called undisputed. “I’m one step away from undisputed, and that’s what I want next,” Scotney said after her impressive win over Mercado.

The Shane McGuigan-trained fighter is seemingly now in the perfect place at the perfect time as her career moves to its next phase. With the right backing and promotion, Scotney could be about to make that breakthrough into mainstream acceptance and acknowledgement. The 27-year-old can already claim to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in her country. Within the next twelve months, Scotney might be in consideration to be the best female fighter on the planet.

The manner of that one-sided victory over Mercado in New York will have earned her many plaudits. And an enhanced fan base. A new audience, both live and the millions who witnessed her impressive dismantling of an opponent on Netflix. An opponent that some thought would give her a hard night’s work. Scotney made a potentially difficult fight look incredibly easy. The perfect introduction to her new audience.

The hook-up with Paul and Most Valuable Promotions should guarantee Scotney activity and exposure. Both have been lacking in recent times. The Catford fighter will now look to make up for lost time. Scotney will look to take that one final step on that road to undisputed and will then move up to featherweight to chase the same at a second weight. But every great fighter needs a great rival, Scotney might have that in Skye Nicolson.

“I have had the hard fights at super-bantamweight, but you need the names. I want to get my name to stick in people’s minds. I want to make a mark and be remembered.” Scotney told me last year when I asked her about a possible fight with Nicolson. A high-profile fight that could elevate the winner in many ways.

The former WBC world featherweight champion has recently moved down to super-bantamweight, and an enticing clash with Scotney could tick many boxes for both fighters. Nicolson, who not so long was carrying the ‘future undisputed’ label, is chasing a world title at a second weight. A fight with Scotney could give her that, and depending on the timing of any fight between the pair, could give her that undisputed status in one solitary fight.

A lot will depend on Nicolson and her immediate intentions. Will she bide her time in her new weight division and wait for Scotney to make that inevitable move up to featherweight and then pick up one of the vacant titles? Winning a world title at super-bantamweight will be a whole lot easier if Ellie Scotney weren’t in the opposing corner. But equally, Nicolson, who has spent a significant part of the last few years calling out Amanda Serrano, might fancy challenging herself against Scotney and picking up multiple world titles in one fight? For Scotney, Nicolson will give her an opponent and a fight that could take her career to a different level. For both, it could very much serve a purpose.

But Skye Nicolson or not, Ellie Scotney is a star in waiting. The odds suggest that going undisputed is a matter of when and not if. Even then, you feel that Scotney is only just getting started. The only question is just how far she can go. Her ceiling could be unlimited.

Photo Credit: Getty Images/Netflix