Terri Harper and Maxi Hughes secure Yorkshire homecoming at Doncaster Rovers stadium

Terri Harper

TERRI HARPER will make the first defence of her WBO world lightweight title on May 23, headlining a card in her home city of Doncaster.

The 28-year-old dethroned Rhiannon Dixon with a comprehensive unanimous decision victory last September, returning to the win column after a brief spell in the higher weight divisions.

Before reigniting her career, Harper, 15-2-2 (6 KOs), suffered a devastating fourth-round stoppage defeat to Sandy Ryan up at 147lbs, shortly after boxing to a draw against super-welterweight veteran Cecilia Braekhus.

But now, it has been announced by rising promotional outfit GBM Sports that she is gearing up for a clash with unbeaten contender Natalie Zimmermann at the Eco-Power Stadium in Yorkshire, England.

With a capacity of around 16,000, the home of Doncaster Rovers Football Club will stage what promises to deliver a compelling night of action from start to finish.

A co-main event matchup between Maxi Hughes and Archie Sharp, for instance, could quite easily steal the show, with the two lightweights looking to break into the world level scene.

Hughes, 28-7-2 (6 KOs), comes off a shutout points victory over Gary Cully, claiming a notable scalp after suffering back-to-back defeats to William Zepeda and George Kamnosos Jr.

Against Kambosos, though, the 34-year-old was quite rightly left feeling aggrieved after a highly contentious majority decision swung in favour of the Australian.

As for Sharp, the 29-year-old will undoubtedly be hoping to restore some stability to his career following several periods of inactivity in recent years.

Elsewhere on the stacked card, meanwhile, are three more enticing matchups, one of which being a British and Commonwealth title fight between super-bantamweights Tysie Gallagher and Ebonie Jones.

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