Third world shot for Lyndsey Scragg

Wolverhampton's first female professional boxer Lyndsey Scragg hopes it will be third time lucky after being granted a shot at the WBO title next month.

Scragg has unsuccessfully fought for the WBC and WBA super featherweight belts in Canada and the United States respectively, but will get another chance in another jaunt across the world to face Erin McGowan for the vacant lightweight crown in Western Australia on October 9.

At 31 time is running out in Scragg's quest to lift a prestigious world title, having won the little-known Global Boxing Council belt at Wolverhampton Civic Hall last year.

It's also a step up in weight against a big-punching co-challenger, who has put away seven of her 13 opponents away inside the distance.

With that in mind, the focus has been on power while maintaining speed in training, with Scragg going back to train at the Firewalker gym in Wolverhampton under the guidance of professional boxing coach Joby Clayton, who originally trained Stourbridge's British cruiserweight champion Rob Norton.

The two fly out, along with Lyndsey's brother Michael, Down Under next Thursday, nine days before fight night at the Joondalup Arena.

And Scragg has vowed to take the decision out of anybody's hands whether it will all be for nothing.

She said: "To compete against the best in the world, I have got to win clearly, to the point where there is no doubt in the referee's mind that Lyndsey Scragg has won the fight. It's got to be completely one-sided.

"I know I am going to win, there's no doubt in my mind. I want a prestigious title, it's a massive belt and I am hungry as hell to get my hands on it.

"For me, it's all about recognition, so there's no doubt in anyone's mind that I am a fantastic female boxer.

"I planted a seed in my mind a long time ago that I was going to be a big world champion and I have never felt as close to it as I do now."

Scragg's first crack at a world title was perhaps for the most coveted of them all, the WBC belt, losing a unanimous points decision to Jelena Mrdjenovich at Edmonton's Shaw Conference Centre back in November 2008.

WBA champion Kina Malpartida was a tougher opponent last December and is rated as one of the best female fighters in the world, who again took the decision on all three judges scorecards at Ontario's Citizens Business Bank Arena, but not before Scragg put her down in the sixth round.

It was that night when the Wolverhampton fighter felt she had finally arrived on the world stage.

She said: "This fight is going to be all about pressure and it's going to be a war, a lot like my first world title fight away from home. But I have boxed abroad, this girl has never fought outside of Australia and certainly not against anyone of any caliber.

"Malpartida is a fantastic inspiration for all female fighters, she's the full package but at the end of our fight she came up to me and said 'you will be a world champion.'

"When I fought for the WBC title I was an inexperienced boxer, I am not anymore and I have developed in so many ways."