Terri Harper came out on top on May 23 when she faced Natalie Zimmermann in the main event at Eco-Power Stadium in Doncaster, England. Battling it out in front of her hometown crowd, the British three-division champion defeated the unbeaten German contender to retain her WBO lightweight title.
28-year-old Harper (16-2-2, 6 KOs) outboxed 42-year-old Zimmermann (13-1, 3 KOs), earning the victory by unanimous decision. After 10 rounds, all three judges scored the fight 99-91. In the final round, the challenger suffered a big cut over her right eye due to an accidental clash of heads.
Post-fight, Harper – who made the first successful defense of the strap she claimed last September by dethroning Rhiannon Dixon – once again called out British WBC champion Caroline Dubois (11-0-1, 5 KOs), as well as other titleholders at 135 lbs. Stephanie Han (10-0, 3 KOs) of El Paso, Texas, is the newly crowned WBA champion, while Beatriz Ferreira (6-0, 2 KOs) of Brazil holds the IBF belt.
“That gets my fire burning,” Harper said. “I said it the other day in the press conference – she [Dubois] rubs me up the wrong way… That fight makes sense.”
“I want to go on to fight the other champions and really step up.”
Maxi Hughes defeats Archie Sharp, looks for title shot
In the 12-round co-main event, Maxi Hughes (29-7-2, 6 KOs) defeated Archie Sharp (25-2, 9 KOs) by unanimous decision with scores of 115-113, 116-112, and 120-108. With the victory, Hughes won the WBC ‘Silver’ lightweight belt. He also secured his third win in a row since suffering a fourth-round RTD loss to William Zepeda last March.
“I’ve had my heart set on the WBC world championship for a long time, and tonight I took a big step closer to achieving that dream,” Hughes said. “This belt should earn me an eliminator bout for a shot at the world title, but maybe I can get an immediate title shot with it. Either way is fine with me.”
On the Harper vs Zimmermann undercard
Among other Harper vs Zimmermann results, Haithem Laamouz (21-2, 9 KOs) scored a unanimous decision over James Flint (15-3-2, 3 KOs) to claim the IBO Continental title at super lightweight. The judges scored the 10-round bout 98-92, 98-93, and 96-94.
Lewis Sylvester (16-1, 4 KOs) defeated Reece Mould (20-4, 6 KOs) by split decision at lightweight to also capture the IBO Continental title. After 10 rounds, the scores were 97-93, 94-96, and 96-94.
Murtaza Nadeem (6-0, 3 KOs) defeated Bahadur Karami (4-30-4, 1 KO) via a 60-55 points decision in a six-rounder at super middleweight. In the main card opener, Edward Hardy (4-0, 2 KOs) defeated Darwing Martinez (8-32-2, 6 KOs) via a 60-52 points decision in a six-rounder at featherweight.
Among the prelims, Joe Hayden (18-0, 1 KO) defeated Lewis Booth (16-2) via a 78-75 points decision at welterweight. Ellie Hellewell (7-0, 1 KO) scored a 97-95 points decision over Stevi Levy (13-4, 1 KO) at super bantamweight. Jamie Mellers (8-1, 1 KO) stopped Cameron Kaihau (9-2) in the second round at super welterweight.