Ringside Report: Rhiannon Dixon Wins The Vacant WBO World Lightweight Title in Manchester

Ringside Report: Rhiannon Dixon Wins The Vacant WBO World Lightweight Title in Manchester

In only her tenth professional fight, Rhiannon Dixon crowned herself the new WBO world lightweight champion courtesy of a hard-fought, unanimous points victory over the tough Argentinian Karen Elizabeth Carabajal on Saturday night at the AO Arena in Manchester.

Dixon won by scores of 98-91 97-92 96-93. But Carabajal more than made her work for her victory. Make no mistake, it was a hard night’s work for the new WBO lightweight champion of the world. This observer felt the 96-93 scorecard was about the right interpretation of what we saw.

The Warrington lightweight got off to a dream start. An impressively fast start aided by a beautifully timed left hand that dropped her opponent in the 3rd round, and the win appeared to be a mere formality. But Carabajal had other ideas.

Carabajal started to find her range and had a really good 6th round catching Dixon on multiple occasions. The former white-collar fighter seemed to slow down somewhat as the fight closed out, but she just seemed to edge enough of the close competitive rounds down the stretch to seal the win and her maiden world title.

Dixon would have learned plenty from the toughest fight of her career to date. Her heavy thudding jab was often neglected, and she seemed to throw too many shots from too far out. But from where Rhiannon Dixon started to where she is now, it was still an impressive victory for a fighter who is still very much learning on the job. Despite a few niggles of critique, there is much to like in how the new champion fights. And she will get better. Commonwealth and European titles, and now the WBO bauble is some achievement for a career still very much in its infancy.

There is no need to rush the new champion. A couple of defences will serve her well. A fight with the two-weight world champion Terri Harper would be a good next step in her boxing apprenticeship. Unification fights can wait until next year. Dixon is still learning her craft. Let her learn.

Knowing Dixon, she will be a little down on her performance. She is a perfectionist who demands exactly that. But in truth, it was the type of fight that she so badly needed. Dixon would have learned more from her tenth fight than her previous nine put together.

The Anthony Crolla protege will return in the summer and will hope another fight comes her way before the year ends. The education will continue, and as her promoter Eddie Hearn said post-fight: “It will get harder from here.” The world title was hard-earned, but that is exactly how it should be. When she wakes up on Sunday morning, Rhiannon Dixon will accept that. But she should still be immensely proud of how far she has come. Sometimes, all you have to do is win. And win she did. A hard night, but still a very good one.

Photo Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing