Hannah Rankin and Kozin Set For Double World Title Eliminator With Jersey Set To Host
Harper And Jonas Won’t Fight Each Other But Hannah Rankin Will Fight Them
NoSmokeSport.com has been informed that Scotland’s Hannah Rankin will take part in a WBA and WBC super-welterweight title final eliminator on the 23rd of September against the 27-year-old Slovenian Southpaw, Ema Kozin.
The clash is being touted for a potential, unique night of boxing on the island of Jersey at an outdoor venue, with a 5,000-capacity crowd.
Rankin’s promoter, Dennis Hobson revealed to NoSmokeSport earlier in May that the Fightzone team had a ‘get-together’ to discuss how they could take the fight to the island.
He cited that there was a sizeable Scottish community on Jersey that would be eager to make up a partisan crowd for Rankin. Hobson also claimed the event would be a similarly unorthodox move to the Sheffield Car Park shows during COVID-19, but on a bigger scale.
As previously formatted with Fightzone’s Malta card, headlined by the Commonwealth flyweight bout between Connor Butler and Craig Derbyshire, Hobson revealed that the potential Rankin card in Jersey would most likely commence with an amateur competition.
“We will probably do a pro-am show”, Hobson told NoSmokeSport, “Jersey half-dozen versus UK half-dozen, leading into a pro show with some live music to entertain the fans.”
Hannah Rankin’s last fight was a shut-out points win against Logan Holler on Fightzone and the BBC. Fightzone, the streaming service broadcaster fronted by Hobson, have recently partnered up with the BBC to showcase live boxing events on BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport app and the BBC Sport website. It is expected that Rankin’s fight with Kozin will also get picked up by the BBC.
Rankin will be seeking to cement her opportunity to compete in a 9th world championship bout. (She has previously held the IBO and WBA super-welterweight belts.)
Kozin last fought a year ago against Hungary’s Szilvia Szabados, winning via a 7th-round stoppage, to become a WBF world titlist. She will be seeking to mandate a shot at an established world title on the 23rd of September. She has only ever tasted defeat against the unbeaten, unified middleweight champion, Claressa Shields.
By Harry Duffy
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