HANNAH RANKIN had her two world title belts ripped from her grasp in Nottingham last night, with Terri Harper defeating the Scot by unanimous decision.
Rankin was defending her IBO and WBA super welterweight titles and was coming off the back of a successful defence, where she headlined the Hydro in Glasgow but there was no repeat of those heroics this time around.
Ahead of this match-up, Rankin was confident that her physical advantage would be too much for Harper to handle.
At 5ft 8in, the Scot is three inches taller than Harper and with the Englishwoman having moved up three weight classes for this bout, Rankin was convinced her natural weight advantage would prove insurmountable.
However, there was little evidence of Rankin being naturally stronger or more powerful than her opponent.
In the early stages of the bout, Harper showed no signs of being intimidated by the defending champion and looked sharp from the off, with her speed putting Rankin on the back foot immediately.
In round one, she caught Rankin cleanly with her right hand, and after repeating that in round two, a significant cut appeared above the defending champion’s left eye resulting in blood pouring down the Scot’s face.
As the fight progressed, Harper continued to catch the champion with her left hand, with Rankin unable to fend her jab off.
Rankin is nothing if not tenacious though, and made moves to drag Harper into a dog-fight in an attempt to nullify her speed and accuracy.
In Rankin’s corner, her coach, Noel Callan, did his best to convince Rankin that by the halfway point, Harper was beginning to pay the price for her lightning fast start.
Few observers concurred though.
It was not until the fifth round that Rankin began to establish herself but she could not get on top of Harper, who did not look like someone who was uncomfortable at super welterweight.
As the seventh round began, Rankin began to look like the world champion she is. She went on the attack and on the front foot, landed a clean shot on Harper, which gave her an obvious boost.
However, with Rankin on the attack, Harper unleashed a right hand – one of the best shots of the fight – which could have shaken the Scot but she withstood it impressively and made it to the bell without any further damage.
In the eighth, Harper maintained the pressure, with her hand speed and variation proving too much for Rankin.
As the ninth round began, Harper knew she had only to survive the next four minutes to snatch Rankin’s belts off her, whilst the Scot knew she would have to produce something very special if she were to retain her titles.
There was, however, little evidence that Rankin was making her natural weight advantage tell, with Harper’s footwork allowing her to deftly manoeuvre out of the way of danger time and time again.
As the bell went for the final round, there was a certain desperation to Rankin, with the defending champion well aware that her titles were about to be ripped from her grasp.
Rather than Harper being out-muscled by Rankin, the Englishwoman looked like a natural super welterweight and her proclamations that she was better suited to this weight than the lighter categories in which she won her previous world titles certainly seemed true.
As the fighters waited for the result, Rankin looked resigned to losing her titles and so it proved, with the judges scoring the fight 98-92, 98-92 and 97-93 in Harper’s favour.
This loss is a significant setback for Rankin but she has come back from defeat before, each time a better fighter.
At 32 years old, she still has time to regroup and reset but this result will be one of the most disappointing moments of her career.
A unification bout with Natasha Jonas, which had been touted, will now not happen, with Harper seeking a bout with her fellow Englishwoman as she seeks to unify the division.
“This year was supposed to be a learning year but this opportunity came up and I took it,” said Harper.
“I don’t think it was crazy to come up the weights – I had full confidence in myself and I got the job done.
“The fight with Jonas is why I came up to this weight and that’s why I needed to get this win. We’ve got some history to settle so I really want that fight.”
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