(MARCH 28) NEW YORK — The
recent announcement that Cherneka Johnson will defend her
International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior featherweight title
against Ellie Scotney has left the team of Maureen Shea
perplexed and looking for answers.
Shea (30-2-1, 13 knockouts), rated no. 2 by the IBF, and Scotney,
rated no. 1, had been ordered by the IBF on February 7 to face
off in an interim title fight, which Scotney’s promoter
Matchroom Boxing proposed for April 29 in Sheffield, England.
Johnson suffered a major head gash during her most recent title
defense against Susie Ramadan in October and was ruled unlikely
to be ready to make a mandatory defense until at least June.
Shea and manager Luigi Olcese reached an agreement with
Matchroom for the interim title fight. Shea’s team signed and
returned the contracts to Matchroom on February 18, but the
contracts were never executed by Matchroom and returned to the
IBF before the deadline.
Now Shea is seeking justice after being pushed aside for a title
opportunity that she has waited a long time for.
“This is bad for every female boxer out there. The IBF needs to
step in. Matchroom did not negotiate in good faith or intend to
make this fight. Matchroom’s economics should not dictate the
opportunities to the sanctioning bodies,” said Shea, a native of
The Bronx, N.Y. who now resides in Delray Beach, Fla.
As it stands, Johnson (15-1, 6 KOs) is expected to make her
second defense of the belt against Scotney (6-0) on May 20 at
the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland. Shea, who is also half Irish,
believes she should be next in line at the winner after being
unfairly skipped over.
“Maureen should get an immediate shot at whoever wins this
fight. We should get that in writing because we negotiated in
good faith. We could have moved in a different direction but we
didn’t. We passed over an opportunity to stay busy for this,”
said Olcese. “This is bigger than Maureen Shea because it
happened to her in this instance, but it’s happening to other
females as well.”
Shea, a pioneer of the sport, is a former WBC interim
featherweight champion who has been unbeaten for the past 14
years.
She last fought in May of 2022, outpointing veteran Calista
Salgado in Queens, N.Y.
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