LONDON — Ellie Scotney was crowned the undisputed junior featherweight champion on Sunday after defeating Mayelli Flores on points in a fight of the year contender.
Scotney (12-0) who held the WBO, IBF and WBC titles, beat Flores via unanimous decision to take the Mexican’s WBA belt and become Britain’s youngest ever undisputed champion, male or female, at 28 years old.
The judges scored it 96-94, 100-90 and 100-90.
“I can’t tell you how much of a hard fight that was. And I think the score [didn’t] give her justice,” Scotney said in the ring. “She was nonstop from the first bell. And when I tell you I had to go through so many tests just to get in this room today, only God brought me through. Only God.”
The early rounds were fought at a blistering pace with Flores (13-1-1, 4 KOs) marching forward from the opening bell in a bid to deny Scotney from getting any rhythm or momentum, firing shots from all angles and unsettling the London-born fighter. The pair went punch-for-punch through much of the contest, but by Round 4, Scotney had started to gain some control, working behind her jab more and moving to evade Flores’ most powerful punches before building combinations.
Still, Flores would not be perturbed and kept coming forward, insisting on dragging Scotney into a brawl, much to the delight of the fans in the arena who were engrossed in every second of the contest.
Scotney remained composed and pulled away as the fight went on, landing the cleaner shots while Flores had a higher output but failed to hurt Scotney. In Round 8, Scotney was in control, landing two big right hands that rocked Flores. In the closing two rounds, Scotney moved well, worked behind the jab and ensured she made no mistakes as she closed out an impressive victory.
Earlier, Chantelle Cameron won the vacant WBO junior middleweight title with a commanding unanimous points win over Michaela Kotaskova.
The judges scored it 100-90, 99-91, 99-91 for Cameron (22-1, 8 KOs) who was dominant from the opening bell, attacking the body of the taller Kotaskova and suffocating her.
Cameron, 34, becomes a two-weight world champion after previously holding the undisputed junior welterweight titles. The Brit imposed her physicality despite being the smaller fighter, and while Kotaskova showed heart and kept throwing punches, they didn’t carry any power.
Fighting over the longer three-minute rounds, Cameron’s work rate never let up and her fitness proved invaluable, mixing up her combinations to have her opponent on shaky legs on more than one occasion.
After the fight, Mikaela Mayer joined Cameron’s postfight interview and the pair declared they intend to fight each other next.
They faced off in the ring, and while a fight has not been agreed to, they both insisted it will be easy to make given they are both with Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions.
