Harper: I Feel Like Rankin’s A Beatable Opponent, Great Opportunity To Become Two-Division Champ

Terri Harper couldn’t have been clearer in making Hannah Rankin the focal point of her three-split jump.

“I want to be world champion again. If I’m being honest, I feel like Hannah is a beatable opponent,” Harper bluntly said during the special ‘Face Off Live: Hannah Rankin vs. Terri Harper’ of Matchroom Boxing ahead of her upcoming title fight. “I feel like it’s a great opportunity to become a two-division world champion.”

Harper will challenge for Rankin’s WBA/IBO junior middleweight titles this Saturday on DAZN from Nottingham Arena in Nottingham, England. The fight comes just six months after Harper (12-1-1, 6KOs) moved up to lightweight from the 130-pound junior lightweight division.

The 25-year-old from Denaby Main, Yorkshire decided to make the switch following her fourth-round knockout loss to Alycia Baumgardner to end her WBC/IBO junior lightweight title reign last November. Harper’s return to lightweight was successful, outpointing Yamila Belén Abellaneda in ten rounds on March 12, also at the same venue hosting Saturday’s title fight against Scotland’s Rankin (12-5, 4KOs). .

At the time, the plan was to use 2022 as a rebuild year, hoping to fight at least three times at the new weight and then look for big opportunities as they came along. Those plans changed once the opportunity arose to face Rankin, who is attempting her second defense as the unified champion.

There was no concern on the part of Harper or his team, led by manager and trainer Stefy Bull, in jumping three weight divisions. A similar move was successfully made by Natasha Jonas, who fought Harper to a draw in their August 2020 junior lightweight title bout, but has since unified the WBO and IBF titles in back-to-back fights this year at junior middleweight.

Harper is confident that he will follow suit with success and insists he took the proper steps to acclimate to the higher weight rather than simply eat his way down to junior middleweight.

“I walk at ten, twelve, eleven stones,” the 5’8 ½ Harper pointed out. “Hannah and her team are calling this reckless. I feel like going back down to (130 pounds) would be unwise at this part of my boxing career.

“This is the first camp where I can enjoy it, without focusing on food. I feel fully fed. It wasn’t just a case of putting on the dough and climbing up to 11 stones. I have conditioned my body to perform at this weight. I am not the fighter I was in nine stones, four. I have become an even better athlete.”

Rankin-Harper serves as the co-main event for DAZN this Saturday. Headlining the show, IBO lightweight champion Maxi Hughes defends his title against former IBF featherweight champion Kid Galahad, who is moving up in weight. The fight was elevated after local hero Leigh Wood was forced to pull out of his secondary defense of the WBA featherweight title against Mauricio ‘Bronco’ Lara due to a bicep injury sustained late in training camp.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox