Terri Harper misses chance to become unified light-middleweight champion in Cecilia Braekhus draw
- Published
Terri Harper retains her WBA title despite the draw
Terri Harper missed out on becoming the unified light-middleweight champion after being held to a majority draw in her title fight with Cecilia Braekhus.
Harper retains her WBA title but was not able to claim the vacant WBO belt against the experienced Braekhus.
One judge scored the fight 97-93 to Harper, but it was called as 95-95 by the other two.
Harper's promotor Eddie Hearn said the result was "a joke".
Speaking after the fight, the Doncaster fighter said she felt like she "did just enough to win".
"It was my own fault for letting it get that close," she added. "I should have stepped up the gears. I felt the extra weight of Cecilia. Thanks to Cecilia for a great fight."
But Hearn disagreed.
"I think Terri's too polite. That's an absolute joke," he said. "Terri Harper should be unified world champion tonight.
"At the end of the day, that's just incompetence [the judging]. Outrageous. Everybody saw it and everyone is shaking their head here tonight.
"I cannot understand what these judges see sometimes. She won the fight comfortably. It's a shocker."
While there are 16 years between the fighters there was nothing to separate them in the early rounds, with Braekhus the more willing of the pair to get on her front foot and use her jab.
Having entered the arena with an understated ring walk, the former undisputed welterweight champion was all business as she looked to make up for pulling out on the day of the first scheduled clash with Harper due to illness.
Harper opened up a little more in round three and almost landed a looping right, but the experienced Norwegian was capable of keeping the fighter from Denaby Main at bay until the halfway point.
Harper gained dominance with some body shots in round six as Braekhus began to tire, not moving her feet as smoothly from the centre of the ring.
A sparking left hook in round seven and a fearsome combination in round nine put Harper in greater control, but Braekhus landed some firm uppercuts of her own and ended the final round strong - which may have been just enough to secure her a draw.
What next for Harper?
Harper won her first world title two weights below light-middleweight
It was a disappointing night for Harper, whose bout was the chief support to Leigh Wood and Josh Warrington's WBA featherweight title fight.
With 14 wins in 16 heading into this fight, this had been billed as the moment for her to truly move into the mainstream.
It is an opportunity she has been waiting for since May, when Braekhus withdrew from their planned clash.
But Harper was not able to work out a competitor with 37 professional wins, and admitted that she had struggled at a higher weight.
Harper had moved up three weight divisions to beat Hannah Rankin and become a two-weight champion in September 2022, and weighed in 10st 10lb here - 4lb below the limit and 3lb lighter than Braekhus.
"Getting in the ring with these bigger girls, you feel it," she said. "Maybe I need to drop down to 147lb, 140lb.
"I love being back here in Sheffield, gutted I didn't get the win for you guys. Thanks for buying the tickets and hopefully next time I can get a win for you."
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- Published14 January
