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Terri Harper is making her official Matchroom Boxing debut this Saturday in Manchester, facing Viviane Obeneauf on the Taylor-Linardatou card, which will stream live on DAZN.
The 22-year-old Harper (8-0, 5 KO) is a promising fighter on the rise at 130 pounds, where she’s won the IBO title — not a sanctioning body amongst the “big four” in boxing, but for the fighters holding or chasing the belts, it doesn’t matter.
She’ll be defending that title on Saturday against Viviane Obenauf (14-5, 7 KO), a 33-year-old Brazilian now living in Switzerland. Obenauf has a bit of name value in UK rings due to an upset win over former Olympian Natasha Jonas in Aug. 2018.
“She’s going to be a tough opponent and it’s going to be a tough fight,” said Harper. “She’s a live opponent and she’s coming to win a world title. I’m ready for the challenge. I don’t want to be fighting nobodies. I want to be in these big fights and this is a great chance for me to put on a good show for my Matchroom debut.
“We’ve watched a lot of the stoppage win she got against Natasha Jonas. Obenauf is a bit unorthodox and a bit wild. It’s about being smart and making sure that I don’t get caught with silly shots. This is exactly the type of fight I wanted for my Matchroom debut and I think you’ll see another level to my game.”
Harper also takes great joy in featuring on a show headlined by Katie Taylor, who is one of the cornerstone fighters attempting to help women’s boxing grow internationally.
“If someone had told me two years ago that I’d be boxing on the undercard of a Katie Taylor world title bill, I would have just laughed,” she said. “Funnily enough my birthday is on November 2, so I’ll be hoping to celebrate in style with a big win.
“Before we got the fight date my partner was going to buy me tickets to be sat at ringside for the Katie Taylor fight. I think she’s quite happy now she’s saved herself a bit of cash! It’s a real honor to be fighting on her undercard. Us women can box and we do deserve to be on the big stage.”