Hannah Rankin will aim to become Scotland’s first-ever female unified world champion when she takes on Slovenia's Ema Kozin in Manchester this evening.
It was confirmed earlier this week that both the WBO and the WBC light-middleweight titles are up for grabs and the 33-year-old London-based Luss fighter admits the bonus of the WBO belt being on the line, as well as the WBC belt, adds an extra dimension to this fight.
"It is awesome it is for the WBO as well as WBC title," she said.
"Hopefully two belts are coming back to Scotland. It would be something else in the history books, something I never expected to do.
"It would be following in the footsteps of some fantastic male boxers, so I would be very, very proud of that.
"It would mean the world to me. There's nothing better than making your country proud. It would be the perfect end to the year to be able to bring the two world titles back to Scotland."
Rankin has held both the IBO and the WBA super welterweight titles in her career but lost both of those belts in a defeat to Englishwoman, Terri Harper, in September of last year in what was the sixth loss of her career.
However, Rankin recorded her thirteenth win as a professional fighter with a dominant points victory over American Logan Holler in March and the Scot is optimistic she will continue her winning form this evening against 27-year-old Kozin, who herself has held multiple world titles throughout the course of a career which has seen her rack up an impressive 23-1 win-loss record.
"I’m really looking forward to this fight and I’m expecting her to turn up and give it everything," Rankin said.
"She also wants these world titles so I think this is a real opportunity for me to showcase what I’ve been working on.
"I’m really excited about this one."
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