Kaye Scott: Against All Odds
If Kaye Scott listened to all the outside noise, she wouldn’t even bother getting into the ring on Saturday night in Atlanta, Georgia.
Boxing does that. Pundits are everywhere. Everyone is an expert in the sweet science. Even when they are anything but. There is always a camera. A podcast. A Substack. A social media account. Everyone has a voice. Even when nobody asked to hear it. They offer their opinion when they don’t even know who Kaye Scott. They look at her age. That short professional resume. Then they form their opinion. Sometimes you have to go a little deeper to find the truth.
Scott will know the odds are firmly against her. The opponent in the opposite corner is probably the best female fighter on the planet. Katie Taylor might argue with that, of course. But Taylor will soon be riding off into the sunset with a well-earned retirement. Any dispute will then be extinguished. Claressa Shields will be the undisputed pound-for-pound queen of her sport. Shields will argue she already is. She has a point.
“The world has been underestimating me because they’ve only been looking at my record of seven professional fights,” Shields said at this week’s final press conference. “I’m going to prove on Saturday night I deserve to share the ring with the GWOAT. I earned that.” It’s like her Rocky moment. But you sense Scott won’t be content with just going the distance.
The former amateur star is right. She has earned it. That 5-1-1 resume doesn’t tell the whole story. Twenty years in the sport. A decorated amateur career that included medals at two world amateur championships. There were medals at the Commonwealth Games as well. Scott turned professional late in her career. The 42-year-old made her debut in 2023 and, in only her second pro fight, beat Desley Robinson on points. Robinson, who would get that win back in a world title fight, went on to become the unified world middleweight champion. Scott was unlucky to only get a draw with Olivia Curry last year in her second attempt at becoming a world champion. I had Scott winning beyond doubt. But Scott won the rematch in December. As she says herself, she has earned this opportunity. Winning the WBC and WBA middleweight titles brings a certain amount of currency with it. Make no mistake, Scott is not here by chance. Hard work and talent have brought her here. Win, lose, or draw on Saturday night doesn’t change that.
It is an opportunity of a lifetime. Scott is seemingly in the mood to make the best of it. “At this stage of my career, it’s about making some money and getting the opportunity to win more belts,” Scott told me in December after her win over Curry. Most of that quote has already rung true.
Before that victory that made her a unified middleweight champion of the world, Scott told me that winning a world title would be the icing on the cake for her long career. What would beating Claressa Shields be? It might be against all odds, but Scott doesn’t see it as mission impossible.
