Tag: Terri Harper

Terri Harper: Natasha Jonas ‘yet to prove herself … pressure’s on her’

Terri Harper believes that Natasha Jonas has everything to prove in their bout on Friday even though her opponent is 13 years older.

Terri Harper believes that Natasha Jonas has everything to prove in their bout on Friday night despite the 13-year age gap with her opponent.

Both Harper and Jonas have 10 professional fights to their names. Harper remains undefeated (10-0, 5 KOs) while 36-year-old Jonas (9-1, 7 KOs) suffered a loss to Brazilian fighter Viviane Obenauf in 2018.

The 23-year-old Harper goes into the fight at Matchroom’s Fight Camp in Brentwood, England, as a unified junior lightweight titleholder, and while she has likely only just started her professional career, the Doncaster fighter speculated that a loss could end Jonas’ time in the ring.

“Tasha, what has she done in her professional career?” Harper asked during an interview with Matchroom. She’s come from the amateurs, as an elite amateur. She’s yet to prove herself, I think the pressure’s on her.

“What’s she gonna do when she takes a loss to me? Is that the end of her career? Is this her last chance to really prove herself?”

Harper explained that she had used the coronavirus lockdown constructively after getting over the disappointment of her originally scheduled fight with Jonas being cancelled as a result of the pandemic.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK6i9Ek9nqU]

“Probably four weeks in, that’s when we got the news the fight was canceled. I said to Andrew [Bulcroft, her manager], the weeks we’ve done would go to waste, so I knew I had to carry on training.

“I said that’s what kept me sane for lockdown. It kept me in a routine, the garage set up with a punchbag. I just used the time that we got extra. I put it to good use.”

Harper remarked on her dramatic ascent from working in a chip shop in Doncaster to heading up the card for Fight Camp’s second week, which has seen Matchroom’s HQ turned into an outdoor venue.

She recalled her move into boxing as a teenager, saying: “Football was my first sport. I’ve always been sporty, but when I fell in love with boxing, that’s when I left my football days behind. I just took off with my boxing career.

“Here I am. Boxing won.”

Harper expressed disbelief at the rapid transformation in her fortunes after giving up work in a takeaway.

“I’ve gone from working in a chip shop to boxing on the main stage. I just want to inspire the younger generation,” he said. “For me, being in this situation, I never would have dreamed it in a million of years. I’ve popped out of nowhere, WBC champion.

“Four years I spent learning how to fry and cook fish. Here I am, getting in all these hotel rooms up and down the country, and it’s a bit surreal. On the main stage getting recognized in places.

“I was just a girl working in the chip shop.”

Matchroom Boxing’s Fight Camp 2, headlined by Harper vs Jonas, airs live on DAZN in the U.S. and Sky Sports in the UK on Aug. 7.

Mikaela Mayer overwhelms Helen Joseph in one-sided victory

Mikaela Mayer schooled Helen Joseph on the finer points of boxing in the main event Tuesday inside the MGM Grand bubble in Las Vegas.

Mikaela Mayer made the most of her showcase.

The former U.S. Olympian schooled Helen Joseph on the finer points of boxing in the main event Tuesday inside the MGM Grand bubble in Las Vegas on ESPN, dominating almost every minute of all 10 two-minute rounds to win a near-shutout decision in the junior lightweight bout.

Mayer (13-0, 5 KOs) dominated Joseph (17-5-2, 10 KOs) in every conceivable way. She used her jab and footwork to keep her aggressive, but shorter opponent at a distance, consistently landing sharp combinations from that position.

She beat Joseph to the punch at almost every turn. And, most important, she simply outworked the game, but overmatched Nigerian fighter from beginning to end.

Thus, the scores were no surprise: 100-90, 100-90 and 99-91. That last card, which belonged to capable judge Julie Lederman, was generous.

And Mayer did it without longtime trainer Al Mitchell in her corner. Mitchell is at home recovering from the coronavirus.

“He’s my biggest critic, so even though I won every round, I probably didn’t work the body enough,” Mayer said. “I abandoned my jab at times, but I think, all in all, he’ll be happy.”

Mikaela Mayer (right) landed punches almost at will against Helen Joseph. Mikey Williams / Top Rank

The victory had to be particularly gratifying in light of the journey that led her to the main event.

Mayer was supposed to have fought Joseph on June 9, the first card in Top Rank’s summer series. However, she tested posited for COVID-19 and was pulled from the show, which left her devastated. Her fate was particularly frustrating given that she claims it was a false positive, meaning she arguably could’ve fought.

The fight was then rescheduled to be the co-feature under Jamel Herring’s title defense against Jonathan Oquendo on Tuesday. Then Herring tested positive for the virus a second time, which resulted in his fight being pulled from the card and Mayer-Joseph being elevated to the main event.

Where does it lead? Mayer wants to fight one of the 130-pound titleholders. She has called out unbeaten beltholder Terri Harper of the U.K.

Bob Arum, her promoter, told her what she wanted to hear immediately after her convincing victory over Joseph.

“Bob said, ‘Great fight,’ and that the next one will be for the title,” Mayer said. “We’ve been trying to get a world title fight for a while now. I said, ‘Don’t let Eddie Hearn [outbid] us.’”

Mayer maintained her perfect record with her convincing victory. Mikey Williams / Top Rank

In preliminaries, popular journeyman Clay Collard (8-2-3, 3 KOs) of Cache Valle, Utah, maintained his momentum, stopping overmatched Lorawnt T Nelson (5-4, 4 KOs) of South Africa at 1:57 of the second round of a scheduled six-round super middleweight fight.

Nelson went down three times, once in the Round 1 and twice more in Round 2, before the referee stepped in to save him from undue punishment. Collard landed almost at will from the opening bell.

“The key is just staying consistent,” Collard said. “I work hard every day. I listen to my coach every day. He yells at me every day. It’s just staying consistent and keeping the ball rolling.”

Collard is now 4-0 this year. His previous three victories came against previously unbeaten opponents, including an upset of prospect David Kaminsky on June 18 at the MGM Grand.

And he might be getting better.

“I think I fought him more like a boxer,” he said. “I was picking my shots a little better, not crowding him so much, keeping him at the end of my punches, working my jab. Just boxing. I’ve been working on my boxing.”

Javier Martinez, an elite amateur making his pro debut, outboxed Ryan Burrs (2-2, 0 KOs) of Frederick, Maryland, to win a shutout decision in a four-round super middleweight fight. All three judges scored it 40-36.

Martinez, a southpaw, landed some sharp right hooks that stunned Burrs but the loser was never seriously hurt.

Martinez was a five-time national champion and USA Boxing’s No. 1 middleweight yet was named an Olympic alternate, prompting the Milwaukee fighter to turn pro.

Burrs is listed as Jonathan Burrs on Boxrec.com.

And, in a six-round lightweight bout, Ruben Cervera (12-2, 10 KOs) of Colombia defeated Clay Burns (9-9-2, 4 KOs) of Forth Worth, Texas. The scores were: 58-56, 59-54 and 59-54.

Cervera put Burns down with a left hook in the first round.

Eddie Hearn planning July-August shows on his company’s U.K. grounds

Eddie Hearm reportedly has a plan in place to restart boxing in July on the grounds of Matchroom Boxing’s U.K. headquarters.

Eddie Hearm reportedly has a plan in place to restart boxing in July on the grounds of Matchroom Boxing’s U.K. headquarters.

The Daily Mail is reporting that Hearn intends to stage five-fight outdoor cards on four consecutive Saturdays beginning in mid-July on the promotional company’s property in Brentwood, Essex, outside London.

The first main event will be a title fight between Terri Harper and Natasha Jonas, according to the report. A heavyweight fight between Dillian Whyte and Alexander Povetkin will be featured on the final show.

Only 90 people will be on site because of coronavirus restrictions. No spectators will be allowed.

“Financially this will be painful for us but after the momentum we have worked so hard to build over the past 10 years, I’m not going to let boxing just dribble back,” Hearn said. “While other guys go with arena and empty studios, ours will look very different.

“Just imagine it. It is summer, the house is all lit up, you can see Canary Wharf in the distance and fireworks are going off. Then over the hill walk Dillan Whyte and Alexander Povetkin for a massive tear up on my lawn.

“World championship boxing in my garden? Oh, go on then.”

A heavyweight clash between Dillian Whyte (left) and Alexander Povetkin will be featured in a series of fights targeted for July and August. Mark Robinson / Matchroom Boxing

The series has a working title of “Matchroom Fight Camp.”

“We cannot just bring boxing back with a dark studio,” Hearn said. “We have built our product on the razzmatazz, the sexiness and the drama. It has all been about building that moment for a fight, so we cannot afford to just bring people out like a game show.

“We want to create a gladiatorial environment that ill not only ensure compelling viewing but will also ensure fighters can perform at the highest level.”

He went on: “It is a huge mission. We are going to turn our headquarters here into an outdoor venue for live boxing, with a full canopy in the middle of the garden and the ring overlooking London. We are building changing rooms for the fighters, setting up a space for a ring walk, and figuring out how we can do everything you need for this kind of production with as few people as possible.

“… We are in talks with a nearby hotel about taking control of it for each of the weeks. The way it will work is everyone involved — the fighters, their teams, the broadcasters — will go into the hotel on Tuesday and the fighter and their team will go to a testing facility at the hotel. You will go in, get tested, be handed a room key and go straight to your room, where you will wait until you get the result of the test.

“The tests are comprehensive and they take 24 hours, so the fighter will stay in their room until they get a call from our doctors, likely on the Wednesday, with their results. If they are positive, they will leave the hotel immediately. If they are not, they are able to leave their room and take part in the obligations of fight week, all with social distancing.

“Everyone involved in the show, from top to bottom, will have to go through that process before they are allowed on to our premises. In terms of fight-week promotion, that is the other side of the challenge. How do you do the media around it? Obviously we cannot have dozens of journalists turning up and sitting shoulder to shoulder for a presser and a weigh-in like normal.

“So we need to decide how it will go. It is likely that Zoom interviews and social media live streams with the fighters and journalists will be the new norm, and pumping out clips of the fighters around the clock, building up to the weigh-ins on the grounds on Fridays and the fights on Saturdays.”

Hearn is still working out details with government and health authorities.

Terri Harper wins world title; Kid Galahad earns stoppage

Terri Harper is the new junior lightweight titleholder, beating Eva Wahlstrom by unanimous decision at the Sheffield Arena.

Move aside, Katie Taylor. There is a new name on the U.K. women’s boxing scene.

Yorkshire’s Terri Harper (10-0, 5 KOs) outpointed Finnish veteran Eva Wahlstrom (23-2-2, 3 KOs) over 10 rounds to become a new women’s junior lightweight titleholder on the Kell Brook-Mark DeLuca card Saturday at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, England. 

The judges scored it 98-91, 99-90, and 99-90, all for the 23-year-old Harper.

After a closely contested first half, Harper shifted the momentum in her favor when she dropped Wahlstrom midway through Round 7. Though it was a flash knockdown more than anything, it seemed to allow Harper to open up her offense. Toward the end of Round 8, Harper hurt Wahlstrom with a flurry.

Also, Kid Galahad inched closer to a chance to avenge his loss to titleholder Josh Warrington last summer. The featherweight contender dominated Claudio Marrero, stopping the Dominican after eight rounds in a scheduled 12-rounder.

It was for the most part a typical Galahad fight: tedious and a bit ugly. In Round 4, Galahad was warned by referee Howard Foster for repeatedly using his forearms to push away the southpaw Marrero. Galahad fought at his desired pace, picking away at the one-dimensional Marrero with single punches as he maneuvered around the ring, switching stances. 

Galahad (27-1, 16 KOs) eventually turned it up in Round 7, connecting cleanly on hard combinations that had Marrero reeling. Concerned, Referee Foster checked in on Marrero (24-4, 17 KOs) during the break. Galahad continued the onslaught in the next round. After the end of Round 8, Marrero’s corner decided to throw in the towel.

With the win, Galahad once again becomes the mandatory challenger for the Leeds-based Warrington.

Kell Brook returns, stops Mark DeLuca in 7th round

Kell Brook shook off the cobwebs to defeat Mark DeLuca in the seventh round of a junior middleweight bout at Sheffield Arena.

Kell Brook still has some gas left in the tank. 

The former welterweight titleholder returned from a 14-month layoff to stop American journeyman Mark DeLuca inside seven rounds of a scheduled 12-round junior middleweight bout Saturday at the Sheffield Arena in Brook’s hometown of Sheffield, England.

The gulf in class between the two fighters was evident from the opening round. In Round 7, Brook put on the finishing touches by connecting on a counter left hand that dropped his opponent for the second time in the fight. The referee counted out the bloodied DeLuca.

“I felt very fit,” Brook said when asked post-fight to assess his performance. “Obviously a year and a half, I felt a little bit rusty, but once I got a bit into it … (DeLuca) was tough, he’s never been stopped.” 

Brook (39-2, 27 KOs) has struggled in recent years. He sustained orbital bone fractures in his knockout losses to Gennadiy Golovkin and Errol Spence Jr. and was stabbed in the leg while on vacation in Tenerife. He has also difficulty making the welterweight limit.

With the win over DeLuca, Brook promised a new beginning as he aims to become a two-division titleholder. 

“I’m a new kid, I’m a new person,” he said. “I’m constantly in the gym. I’m living like a professional. … 2020 is the year that I become a champion again.”

A possible opponent is Liverpool’s Liam Smith, who was sitting ringside. Both fighters are promoted by Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn. Asked if that fight interested him, Brook responded, “Of course it does. I don’t shy away from any fighter. I’ve sparred him. We’ll sit down with Eddie (Hearn) this week.”

The southpaw DeLuca (24-2, 13 KOs) was competitive in the first couple of rounds as Brook felt him out and shook off rust but it was all downhill for the Massachusetts product beginning in Round 3, when Brook knocked DeLuca to the canvas for the first time in the fight with a combination. DeLuca was able to shake it off and gamely went right after Brook, who answered with an uppercut that buckled him. By that point, DeLuca’s face was a bloody mess.

DeLuca started off strong in Round 4, landing a right hand that momentarily caused Brook to hold, but Brook would answer back, staggering DeLuca with straight rights to close out the round as the pro-Brook crowd went into a frenzy.

This was Brook’s first bout since his win over Michael Zerafa in December 2018.