Nottingham, UK: Hannah Rankin and Terri Harper, IBO and WBA Women’s Super Welterweight World Title, September 24, 2022 Image by Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing
NOTTINGHAM, England — It was a decisive and victorious result as Terri Harper jumped onto the ropes to raise his hands to an ecstatic crowd at Nottingham Motorpoint Arena. The crowd, who chanted her name throughout the fight, responded with an outpouring of joy when she was crowned. WBA junior middleweight champion.
Harper (12-1, 1 KO) defeated Hannah Rankin (12-5, 3 KO) by unanimous decision on Saturday night by scores of 98-92 on two cards and 97-93 on the third, all for the sharp and speedy Harper. .
Rankin, the naturally bigger fighter, mounted what would be her second title defense against Harper. Harper, a former WBC junior lightweight champion, had moved up three weight divisions to face her opponent. While many, including Rankin, expressed doubts about her ability to fight the naturally larger woman, Harper moved with such self-assured speed, diving in with slippery combinations, that it was impossible to deny her.
Asked after the fight about his weight division jump, Harper smiled and shrugged, “I don’t think it was crazy. Trust is trust.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing added that a unification fight with Natasha Jonas may be in the next six to nine months, noting: ‘The fights that Terri Harper has given us over the years. she lost to [Alycia] Baumgardner, but it was a great fight, and tonight was another tremendous fight.”
Harper arguably won every round, weaving in and out of Rankin’s reach with clean, beautiful combinations, opening a cut over Rankin’s left eye in the second round that periodically seeped down his cheek. In the sixth, Rankin maintained his defensive, labored stance, but couldn’t find answers to Harper’s boxing brain.
Harper has renewed hope of making some big fights now that she’s won the WBA title, particularly with Matchroom promoting her. Questions may still remain as to whether she can dominate in a division of naturally much larger opponents, but tonight at least once again world champion, and done with clarity and elegance (not to mention Rankin’s blood dripping from her). superior), she has the right to make the naysayers shut up.
