Ellie Scotney earned undisputed super-bantamweight status after a bruising 10-round battle with Mayelli Flores, winning by unanimous decision and adding Flores’ WBA 122lbs belt to the WBO, WBC and IBF straps she already held. In doing so she became the youngest Briton, male or female, to possess all four titles in the four-belt era.
Flores, aiming to become the first Mexican woman to be undisputed, came out aggressively from the opening bell and kept relentless pressure throughout. Two judges scored the contest 100-90 for Scotney while the third had it 96-94 — figures that, despite the wide cards, belied how fierce and competitive the fight felt in the ring.
Scotney, a devout Christian who had attended church that Easter Sunday, quickly found herself under fire. Flores’ compact power and forward momentum forced Scotney onto the back foot early, and a right shot briefly rocked the Catford fighter. Scotney responded with a lead uppercut and, before the end of round two, landed a left hook and a heavy right that tested Flores’ resolve.
As the fight continued, the contrast between constant pressure and measured precision played out round after round. Flores kept her head down and surged forward, looking to break Scotney down with volume and aggression. Scotney carved out space with a probing right hook and straight punches, landing the cleaner, more telling blows at key moments.
In the latter rounds Flores maintained a high work rate, crowding Scotney and forcing exchanges, but Scotney’s cleaner shots proved decisive. A right uppercut and a backhand hook in the ninth stood out, and in the tenth she landed repeated right hooks as Flores poured everything into a final assault. Those finishing blows helped secure the unanimous win.
Scotney celebrated a hard-earned triumph. Reflecting after the fight she said, ‘I had to go through so many tests just to get in this ring today and only God brought me through. I can’t tell you how much of a hard fight that was. The scorecards didn’t do her justice. She was a real champion. That was my hardest test and I knew it was going to be. I gave everything tonight.’