Sports

Two of the top young fighters in boxing will face off May 20 when Ellie Scotney challenges Cherneka Johnson for Johnson’s IBF junior featherweight title.

The fight will take place on the undercard of the Katie Taylor-Chantelle Cameron undisputed junior welterweight championship fight that is also Taylor’s homecoming fight in Ireland.

This will be the second defense of the IBF title for the 28-year-old Johnson. Her last fight was a victory over Susie Ramadan in October, a fight of the year candidate, during which a head clash created a cut over Johnson’s eye.

Bloodied throughout the fight, Johnson (15-1, 6 KOs) continued on and won a convincing unanimous decision. The only loss of Johnson’s career came in 2021, a split decision defeat to Shannon O’Connell. This is the first time Johnson, ESPN’s No. 4 junior featherweight, will fight outside of Australia or New Zealand as a professional.

Scotney, 25, has been one of the sport’s rising prospects over the past 18 months after three wins in 2022 including beating former longtime IBF bantamweight champion Maria Cecilia Roman. Scotney (6-0), ESPN’s No. 5 junior featherweight, last fought in October when she beat Mary Romero by unanimous decision.

It’ll be Scotney’s first fight outside of her native England.

This will be the third women’s title fight on the card at the 3Arena in Dublin, joining Taylor-Cameron and the WBA junior middleweight championship fight between titleholder Terri Harper and challenger Cecilia Braekhus, the former No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world.