Terri Harper will defend her WBO lightweight title in front of hometown fans on Friday, 23 May, headlining a Matchroom/DAZN show at Doncaster’s Eco-Power Stadium (formerly Keepmoat). The 27-year-old “Belter” faces Germany’s unbeaten Natalie Zimmermann in her first outing since dethroning Rhiannon Dixon last September.
Zimmermann (13-0, 3 KOs), 42, owns a glossy record built on novice opposition, but Harper (15-2-2, 6 KOs) cannot afford complacency after a roller-coaster three-division adventure that has included close calls with Cecilia Brækhus and a stoppage loss to Sandy Ryan. Victory keeps Harper in the frame for a unification with WBC queen Caroline Dubois, who publicly named the Yorkshire fighter as her preferred summer target.
The co-feature pits former IBO champion Maxi Hughes (28-7-2, 6 KOs) against ex-WBO No. 1 Archie Sharp (25-1, 9 KOs) in a 10-round lightweight scrap. Hughes routed Gary Cully in February to erase memories of his 2024 loss to William Zepeda, while Sharp looks to rebound from a deflating defeat to Ryan Garner. The winner could step into the crowded WBO mandatory queue now led by Keyshawn Davis.
Fight card:
▪️Terri Harper vs. Natalie Zimmermann, 10 rounds x 2 minutes, for the WBO world lightweight title
▪️Maxi Hughes vs. Archie Sharp, 10 rounds, lightweight
▪️Tysie Gallagher vs. Ebonie Jones, 10 rounds x 2 minutes, for the BBBofC British and Commonwealth super bantamweight titles
▪️Ellie Hellewell vs. Stevi Levy, 10 rounds x 2 minutes, featherweight
▪️Reece Mould vs. Lewis Sylvester, 10 rounds, for the vacant IBO Continental lightweight title
▪️James Flint vs. Haithem Laamouz, 10 rounds, for the vacant IBO Continental super lightweight title
▪️Taz Nadeem vs. Bahadur Karami, 6 rounds, super middleweight
▪️Edward Hardy vs. Darwing Martinez, 6 rounds, featherweight
▪️Joe Hayden vs. Lewis Booth, rounds TBA, super welterweight
