Terri Harper heads into her Nov. 14 defence of the WBC super-featherweight title against Katharina Thanderz without her previously-perfect professional record, but says her August draw against Natasha Jonas has made her a much better boxer.
Harper (10-0-1, 5 KOs) and London 2012 Olympian Jonas tore the house (promoter Eddie Hearn's back garden, to be specific) down in their Fight Camp 2 split draw, and though the boxing community demanded a rematch, up next is mandatory challenger Thanderz (13-0, 2 KOs).
Ahead of her next defence, 'Belter' admitted she too wants another chance to prove she is the better fighter against Jonas, but is completely focused on the immediate threat in the form of the undefeated Spanish-Norwegian.
"I just fight who I’m told to fight," said Harper. "Thanderz was called as mandatory so that’s it.
"I’ve had my eye on her a good few months, maybe a year as a potential opponent, so it’s not like she’s just popped out of nowhere.
"I learnt a lot after my last fight in many ways and I do want that rematch with Tasha down the line and also unifications, but I have a proven and deserving mandatory challenger to contend with first before we even look at those options. This is a proper fight and one I’m not overlooking.
"Previously I used to take it to heart when people called me out, but it shows I’m doing something right and have something they all want — the green and gold belt, but it’s one fight at a time."
Harper vs. Thanderz, airing Nov. 14 live on Sky Sports in the U.K., and DAZN in the U.S., is part of a historic triple-header of women's world championship fights on the same card at the SSE Arena, Wembley.
Joining the WBC super-feather bout on this first-time-ever occasion, Katie Taylor (16-0, 6 KOs) defends her unified lightweight world titles against mandatory challenger Miriam Gutierrez (13-0, 5 KOs), while Rachel Ball (6-1) faces Jorgelina Guanini (9-1-2, 1 KO) for the vacant WBA bantamweight belt,
Supporting the triple-header, John Docherty (9-0, 7 KOs) battles Jack Cullen (18-2-1, 9 KOs) and Thomas Whittaker-Hart (4-0, 2 KOs) looks to go 5-0 against Jermaine Springer (7-1, 1 KO) in light-heavyweight action.