Terri Harper dethroned Rhiannon Dixon to become a three-division world champion on September 28 at Canon Medical Arena in Sheffield, England. The long-awaited all-British showdown went the full distance and ended with the scores 96-94, 97-93 and 97-93, all in favor of the challenger.
With the victory by unanimous decision, Harper, who previously held world titles at 154 lbs and 130 lbs, became a new WBO champion at 135 lbs. The 27-year-old improved to 15-2-2, 6 KOs and returned to winning ways, after her defeat via four-round RTD against Sandy Ryan in March.
“Amazing, Terri Harper said post-fight. “That’s my best one in my career. This camp has been a long one, but I’ve become a new fighter mentally, physically.”
“It’s what I needed. I probably… I’ll be honest, I’d probably fallen out a love with sport. So, I needed that bit of fire to really get me going in the gym.”
Rhiannon Dixon dropped to 10-1, 1 KOs and suffered her first career defeat as a pro. The 29-year-old southpaw didn’t succeed in her first championship defense and lost the title.
In an all-British co-main event, Peter McGrail (10-1, 6 KOs) KO’d Brad Foster (15-4-2, 5 KOs) in the second round at super bantamweight. Among other Dixon vs Harper results, George Liddard (9-0, 5 KOs) stopped George Davey (9-2-1, 2 KOs) via fifth-round of their all-English bout at middleweight.
Also on the card, unbeaten Galal Yafai (8-0, 6 KOs) of England defeated Sergio Orozco Oliva (9-9, 7 KOs) of Mexico via third-round TKO at flyweight. His next fight against Sunny Edwards for the interim WBC 112 lbs title on November 30 in Birmingham, England has been confirmed.
In the main card opener, Giorgio Visioli (5-0, 4 KOs) of the UK eliminated Diego Lagos (11-5, 5 KOs) of Colombia in the third round at super featherweight.
Among the prelims, Josh Babb defeated Kelvin Madjid via 58-57 points decision at bantamweight. Jimmy Sains stopped Omir Rodriguez in the second round at middleweight. Marco Simmonds scored a 58-56 points decision against Connan Murray at super welterweight.
Plus, Ibraheem Sulaimaan took a fourth-round 40-36 technical decision against Kevin Trana. The super featherweight bout was stopped due to cut over Sulaimaan’s right eye from head clash.
Brandon Scott defeated Calum Turnbull via 59-56 technical decision. The fight was stopped in the sixth round due to cut on Scott’s forehead also caused by clash of heads.