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Hannah Rankin became Britain’s fourth reigning female world champion and the first from Scotland as she claimed the vacant WBA super welterweight title with a unanimous points decision over Maria Lindberg in the banqueting hall at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London.
The fight was close, but, while Lindberg pushed forward for most of the fight, landing well with the jab, the more eye-catching shots and heavier punches came from Rankin. Every round was competitive, but there was a feeling that Rankin was just edging it throughout, hence the somewhat one-sided scoring. Two judges had it 97-93, one hand it 98-92.
“It means everything to me, all the work I’ve been doing to this moment, I’m feeling quite emotional,” Rankin, 31, said. “She was tough as hell, she just kept coming, she has some engine on her. I said before that it was going to be a war and not to under-estimate her, because she lives in the gym, this is her job. She was a great competitor, but I am really proud to be walking away with those belts.
“I really felt all the way through the fight that my boxing was cleaner, that I was landing the cleaner and the harder, heavier shots. She landed a few of her own, but I felt I was the better boxer on the night.”
Rankin also regained the vacant IBO title she had previously held, but this was the first time she had got hold of one of the “big four”, having failed in three previous attempts to Alicia Napoleon, Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall.
“I’m so proud to be doing it with Dennis (Hobson) and Steve (Crump) and Fightzone – a huge, huge thank you for giving me the platform to achieve this,” she said. “Also, for young fighters coming through to see that this is a possibility for them, especially the girls that are coming up. If they follow their dreams, they work hard and get a cracking team around them, it is all possible.”
Very little happened in the opening two rounds as both waited for openings, but Rankin opened up more in the third, getting through three times with a swinging right cross. The fourth was close, but it was Lindberg the one coming forward.
While 44-year-old Lindberg looked accurate with her jab, Rankin was the one landing the heaver shots. A big right uppercut got through Lindberg’s guard early in the fifth and she was more than happy to stand and trade.
The Swede came on strong in the sixth and seventh rounds as she started to walk through Rankin’s punches, but the Scot, who often fell short with her jab, finished the eighth well as she walked Lindberg into a series of hooks and was on top in the ninth as she landed some good straight shots.
Lindberg went all out aggression in the last, as she forced Rankin backwards, but the Scot again was the one getting through with the harder punches.
Michael Gomez Jr claimed the vacant Central Area super-featherweight title as he stopped Sufyaan Ahmed in the fourth round.
Gomez, despite being tall for the weight, was happy to stand up close with Ahmed and landed the cleaner punches after being caught in the first.
The longer it went on, the greater the impact the series of hooks that Gomez was landing seemed to have. By the start of the fourth, Gomez was steadily increasing the pace and he jumped on Ahmed when he looked hurt, landing a series of rights and then opening up two-fisted until referee Kieran McCann stopped the fight after 59 seconds of the fourth round.
Scottish cruiserweight David Jamieson dropped late substitute Dave Preston twice in the second round on the way to a one-sided stoppage win.
Preston was knocked down for the first time with an overhand right and a left to the body. Referee Chas Coakley waved it off as Preston went down for the second time from a right at 1:14 of round two.
Nathan Mizon moved to 2-0 as he made short work of Jan Prokes, from the Czech Republic, who was counted out by referee Chas Coakley after only 108 second of the first round, have taken a knee when under heavy bombardment. The welterweight fight was scheduled for four.
Lilyella Craw-Seaman, who was billed under just her first name, made a successful debut against regular visitor Ester Konecna over six at super-welterweight, winning a 60-54 decision from referee Chas Coakley.
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 – covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.