ELLIE SCOTNEY’S nan will have the best view of her world title defence on Saturday, gazing down proudly from heaven with her trademark x-rated two-finger salute.
The 25-year-old super-bantamweight won the IBF belt in June and raced it around to the 99-year-old to complete a lifetime goal and out came her infamous V-sign – not for victory!
Sadly Eileen passed away at the end of August and Scotney’s rapid ring return will be about honouring her life and unwavering support.
Dexy’s Midnight Runners tune ‘Come on Eileen’ will boom around Wembley arena, before the bout with Laura Griffa, and Scotney will be even more inspired than usual.
“She’s watching from up there now, best seat in the house, but to get it done while she was still here was amazing,” she told SunSport.
“There was a panicking stage because last year she had a hip replacement and the doctors were not sure what would happen so we all had to say our goodbyes.
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“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. It’s the biggest thing I’m grateful for.
“She 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.”
It might seem a tragedy to some that Eileen never made it to 100 and that famous letter from Buckingham Palace.
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But Scotney is typically brilliant when explaining the situation.
“She wasn’t worried about that letter,” She said. “She said: ‘sod Prince Charles’, she liked the Queen better and the belt was enough for her.”
The Catford queen’s world title win – and her super-fan nan – made the local news.
But when the show producers chose to edit out the saucy hand sign that had gone viral among online boxing circles, Eileen was irate.
“She made it on the news but they blurred her fingers out,” Scotney laughed.
“They asked me if she was confused but I had to tell them that she meant what she did.
“The channel asked me if they could say that she meant it as a peace sign but we didn’t want to lie so they put her photo on the show but they blurred her fingers out.
“She was fuming about it because that was her trademark.”
Now he has another world champion in his Leyton gym, trainer Shane McGuigan and his close-knit team will carry Scotney’s belt into the ring and hold it aloft while she makes her entrance.
Fight fans should keep an eye out if the brilliant former B&Q worker manages to convince them to hold a couple of fingers aloft too, for Eileen’s sake.
She giggled: “I did think about getting my kit designer to stitch her two-finger sign on my shorts.
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“But I also know a lot of the American teams stand in their corners with their hands or fists raised.
“I might see if I can get Shane and the rest of the team to do that, one belt in the air and a load of fingers. Better not, might not go down too well.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
