WHEN she makes her ringwalk at Wembley Arena on Saturday night, Ellie Scotney will pause for a second longer than sheโs used to and glance skywards for a moment.
Back at the scene of her greatest triumph as a boxer, winning the IBF super-bantamweight title, Scotney will fight for the first time in her life without her beloved nan Eileen watching on from home.
Scotney made no secret of her desire to win the world title for her nan, a cult figure on social media for her two-finger salute, and she achieved that dream in June when she beat Cherneka Johnson to claim the belt in only her seventh fight.
But on August 29, only a few weeks after that triumph, Eileen died at the age of 99 having seen her granddaughter fulfill the promise she had made.
โSheโs watching from up there now,โ Scotney says. โBut to get it done while she was still here was amazing.
โThere was a panicking stage because last year she had a hip replacement and they said theyโre not sure what would happen, come back and everyone say goodbye. But we said she was like the cat with nine lives, she kept coming back. To make sure I got that world title before she passed was everything to me. Itโs the biggest thing Iโm grateful for.
โShe was so stubborn, she waited until her 99th birthday and then 10 days later she passed. She wanted to see 100 but we can forgive her the year. She said, โsod Prince Charlesโ, she liked the Queen better.โ
Before she died, Eileen had urged Scotney to โcomplete the collection nowโ, by adding the other three alphabet titles to her IBF one. The first defence is against experienced 37-year-old Laura Griffa, who is 20-8 and made her professional debut when Scotney was just 15 years old.
โThis fight here is like a lottery ticket for her so I have to be prepared for the best version of her,โ Scotney said. โSheโs only ever lost at world level, she’s going to be dirty and rough but I just need to be on my game so I can show her why I am the world champion and come out victorious.
โShe will come with everything and more. Everyone wants to fight for a world title and itโs in London which is where, for female boxing, everyone wants to come.
โBut my mindset is still the same as always. Thereโs a different sort of pressure but itโs a pressure that holds the same sort of value to me. Life hasnโt changed outside of boxing, thatโs for sure.โ
Scotney, as it happens, knows the city like the back of her hand and might just have the most complicated route to the gym of any active โworldโ champion in the sport.
โWhen I say life hasnโt changed, I mean even the journey to the gym is humbling,โ she says. โIโm still getting on the bus and the train apart from during the strikes. Theyโve done me.
โI used to be able to get a direct train but now I have to get a train to London Bridge then London Bridge to Cannon Street then I get off and walk to Bank then a tube to Leyton. Then I get off there and get the bus from the tube station to the gym. Itโs definitely humbling – either that or stupid.โ
So have the other regulars on her route from Catford to Shane McGuiganโs gym in Leyton, east London started to recognise her?
โI look like a little drug dealer from Top Boy or something with a big bag and a black eye,โ she says. โBut Iโm getting stopped sometimes in Tesco now. I keep getting messages from people saying, โOh youโre the person I nearly ran overโ. In the space of a week three people have told me that so I donโt know what my road awareness is like. Itโs quite worrying really.โ
Now Scotney has designs on becoming a star well beyond her local supermarket and wants to cross the Atlantic in search of fights with the divisionโs other big stars.
โI want to box in America,โ she says. โIโve made that clear but to keep boxing in London Iโm very lucky. But America is a dream of mine.
โTheyโre talking about Yamileth Mercado, then thereโs Mayerlin Rivas and the French girl [Segolene Lefebvre] who has the WBO. They have the belts and are all solid champions and they all bring different challenges so I want to fight every single one of them.
โNow Iโm the champion too, there’s a different vibe and a different pressure. In my last two fights Iโve walked first so now Iโm walking second again. I fought the European champion and then the โworldโ champion.
โBefore my last fight I had to wait nine months, it was like having a baby to be honest. That whole thing built up a lot of anticipation and I was tipped to win it so I had to deliver. Now Iโve got it and I have to maintain it and show why I am the best in the division.
โThis time there has been a quick turnaround, only about three months. Something Iโve lacked in my career has been momentum so to get it in the same place where I won the world title will be a key shift in my career right now.โ
And if she does take care of business against the most experienced opponent of her career to date, donโt be surprised if she celebrates with a two-finger salute like her dear old nan, even if it might get pixelated by DAZN cameras.
โWhen she made it on the news, they blurred her fingers out,โ Scotney adds. โThey asked me โwas she a bit confused?โ And I said โNo, she meant what she meantโ. They asked if they could say she meant peace, and I said โnahโ.
โThey put the picture up but her fingers were blurred, she was fuming about it to be honest – that was her trademark.
โMaybe itโs time I made it mine too.โ