Terri Harper Shows Experience, Defeats Rhiannon Dixon for WBO Lightweight Title

On September 28, Terri Harper (15-2-2, 6 KOs) showed her experience as she boxed smartly, defeating Rhiannon Dixon (10-1, 1 KO) to win the WBO world lightweight title at Utilita Arena, Sheffield. The event was promoted by Matchroom Boxing and shown live on DAZN.

Terri Harper Defeats Rhiannon Dixon in Sheffield

Terri Harper vs. Rhiannon Dixon Recap

The opening two rounds saw Harper settle quicker, boxing well off the back foot and finding a regular home for the right hand. Dixon was trying to be the aggressor – but Harper’s footwork kept her out of range. The third round saw Harper continue to frustrate Dixon by waiting for her opponent to make the first move.

Harper’s experience seemed to be the key at this point as she controlled the distance well and was the busier of the two fighters. When Dixon lets her hands go, it looks good, but she needs to do more.

Round six was the best from Dixon up to this point as she rocked Harper with a big right hook and landed another hook later in the round. The eye-catching earlier footwork from Harper appears to be slowing at this point. Another good round in the seventh for Dixon as she landed a smart three-punch combination, which was the highlight of the round.

The Cheshire fighter was the aggressor in the eighth before Harper landed some eye-catching punches towards the end of the round. It was all action in the ninth with both fighters landing heavy shots, but the work from the Doncaster native was more noticeable.

A scrappy last round was difficult to score as were some of the rounds. Harper showed her experience as she landed the smarter work but the champion was the aggressor and it’s down to what the judges like. Both fighters met in the middle of the ring as David Diomante read the scorecards 97-93 x2 and 96-94, all in favour of Terri Harper who becomes a three-weight world champion.

Post Fight Quotes

In the post-fight interview, an emotional Harper spoke on the win and said: “Amazing, that’s the best win of my career.”

Talking about her gameplan she said: “We worked a lot on counters.”

Reflecting on what the win means for her: “Just, for me to get this is everything I’ve ever wanted,” said the new WBO champion.

Eddie Hearn spoke on what could come next for Harper: “There are some massive names out there,” said Hearn.

Undercard

Peter McGrail (10-1, 6 KOs) started confidently against Brad Foster (15-4-2, 5 KOs) in their super bantamweight bout before landing a brutal body shot in the second round, which left Foster in anguish on the canvas, unable to beat the count. McGrail successfully retains his WBA international super bantamweight fight. It now seems the Liverpudlian fighter could face Dennis McCann next – for the British and European titles.

George Liddard (9-0, 5 KOs) passed the biggest test of his career, stopping George Davey (9-2-1, 2 KOs) in the fifth round of their middleweight contest. A beautiful left hook gave Liddard a knockdown in round number two before a huge right hand gave him another knockdown. He smelt blood and pounced, landing a huge punch again, forcing the ref to wave the fight off.

Read More: Galal Yafai Stops Tommy Frank In First Round

Galal Yafai (8-0, 6 KOs) was dominant in his eight-round flyweight tune-up fight against Sergio Orozco Oliva (9-9, 7 KOs), stopping him in round three, with Yafai now set to face Sunny Edwards on November 30.

Giorgio Visioli (5-0, 4 KOs) recorded an impressive victory over Diego Lagos (11-5, 5 KOs). A right-left-right combination sent Lagos to the canvas, with the referee waving the fight off in round three, awarding Visioli another victory.

Before the Bell

In the final fight of the before-the-bell segment, Josh Babb (3-0, 0 KOs) showed his clear promise, defeating a tough, durable Kelvin Madjid (2-2-1, 0 KOs) 58-57 in their six-round super bantamweight fight.

One of Britain’s best prospects Ibraheem Sulaimaan (5-0, 3 KOs) showed his ability once again against Kevin Trana (15-20-3, 9 KOs) as he scored a knockdown in round three, before suffering a nasty cut from an accidental clash of heads in round four which led to the fight being waved off and going to the cards. The referee scored the lightweight six-round contest 40-36 in Sulaimaan’s favour.

Read More: Dixon Defeats Carabajal in Manchester

Jimmy Sains (7-0, 7 KOs) continued his perfect start to his professional career with a second-round TKO win over Omir Rodriguez (15-21-1, 6 KOs) with a nice body shot followed up with a chopping right hand, which led to the referee counting out Rodriguez. It seemed the Panama fighter was affected by an accidental clash of heads, but “The Executioner” was dominant from the first bell in the middleweight contest.

Brandon Scott (8-0, 1 KO) was impressing against Callum Turnbull (5-3, 1 KO) in their six-round super bantamweight before an accidental clash of heads in the last round caused the referee to wave the fight off. It went to the scorecard and the ref had it 59-56 for Scott.

Marco Simmonds (3-2, 0 KOs) caused an upset in the first fight of the night, defeating the previously unbeaten Connan Murray (9-1, 2 KOs) 58-56 in their six-round super welterweight bout.