Ellie Scotney added the WBO title to her IBF super bantamweight belt, and banked The Ring championship, with an impressive 10-round win over Segolene Lefebvre.
The bustling Scotney, trained by Shane McGuigan, got to work early but McGuigan warned her not to jump in early on. The Catford star took some right hands in the second but she landed well to the body on the third and she scored with a right hand and a left hook near the bell.
Scotney’s volume and variety was winning the day and Lefebvre was finding it tough to stay with Scotney but also looked uncomfortable taking shots downstairs. Scotney continued to walk Lefebvre down, who was struggling in the later rounds while Scotney boxed with a spring in her step and, by the end, had won comfortably by 99-91 for Peter Milord, 97-93 for Anmar Sakraoui and 96-94 for John Latham.
Scotney couldn’t be contained and wouldn’t be denied.
Scotney, 9-0, is improving while Lefebvre is now 18-1 (1 KO).
“I’m just blessed. Now I’ve got three belts in just nine fights. There’s a lot we didn’t show. There’s so much more to come,” said the unified champion, who said she wants to become the undisputed ruler.
Scotney had been walked to the ring by Billy Graham, the veteran trainer behind many of Ricky Hatton’s brightest nights, and she was cheered on from ringside by Hall of Famer Barry McGuigan and WBO cruiser champ and stablemate Chris Billam-Smith.
After just 10 professional fights, Rhiannon Dixon picked up one of the vacant lightweight titles that scattered after Katie Taylor moved up with a 10-round decision over Argentina veteran Karen Carbajal.
Dixon, who had no amateur fights but a handful of white-collar bouts, won by scores of 98-91 for Steve Gray, 97-92 for Grzegorz Molenda and 96-93 for Peter Milord to earn the WBO title.
The southpaw lightweight snuck over a lovely short left hand that dropped Carbajal onto the seat of her shorts in the third. The crowd erupted, Dixon tried to finish it early but she picked up a cut high on the left side of her head that started to dye her blond hair red, and Carbajal had collected a cut by the left eye following a clash of heads.
Warrington’s Dixon, trained by former world lightweight champ Anthony Crolla, relaxed and boxed with an increased confidence as the contest progressed and Carbajal survived an inspection of the cut at the start of the fifth and told referee Howard Foster she could see.
Dixon moved her head well and used her feet intelligently, but Carbajal boxed with more urgency, landed a few right hands, grew more physical and gradually Carbajal – ignoring the wound – seemed to be getting a greater foothold in the fight.
But it was not enough. Carbajal is now 22-2 (3 KO), and the new champion is 10-0 (1 KO).