When most New Zealanders head over to the United Kingdom in their 20s, it’s to work in a pub and do a little travel. However, for Cherneka Johnson, she’s doing so with a much more specific task in mind: defending her IBF World Female Super Bantamweight title. The champion will have a tall order on her hands as well, given that her opponent is home favourite and unbeaten 25-year-old Ellie Scotney.
For Cherneka, this will be her second defense of the IBF title she won against Melissa Esquivel last year. Despite only being 28 years old, the Kiwi has plenty of experience under her belt with 16 professional fights—experience she’ll need as Scotney is yet to taste defeat in a boxing ring.
We break down all the latest odds ahead of this female super bantamweight title fight and offer up the best bets to make on Johnson vs. Scotney this weekend.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: June 9th, 5:00 A.M. (GMT)
Looking at the outright betting odds on this fight, Ellie Scotney is the clear favourite at 1.17. Cherneka Johnson, despite being the defending champion, trails significantly at 5.00 in the betting odds. In terms of how this fight is picked to end, Scotney on points is the most likely outcome at 1.36. Next up is a Scotney knockout at 5.50 before Johnson winning on points sits at 7.00.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: June 8th, 2:45 A.M. (GMT)
The reason why Ellie Scotney is so heavily favoured here, even though she’ll step into the ring as the challenger, is two-fold. First, she’ll be fighting in her own backyard, meaning a higher comfort level and greater support. Johnson, on the other hand, is fighting outside of Australia for the first time in her career.
However, the primary reason Scotney is picked to win here is because of her pedigree as an amateur fighter. The 25-year-old won the 2017 ABA Championships, competed at the 2018 Worlds, and has backed that up by going professional and winning her first six fights comprehensively.
In all likelihood this fight goes to Scotney on points. It’s hard to see Johnson making the transition to fighting on the big stage away from home and the judges ignoring the heavy support for every shot Scotney lands.
There is an argument to be made for backing the underdog here as the odds do look a little overvalued. Johnson has showed some real resilience in her recent fights and has come out victorious after squaring up against quality opponents.
