Anthony Crolla: “I believe Rhiannon Dixon can be a world champion again.”

Anthony Crolla: “I believe Rhiannon Dixon can be a world champion again.”

“I felt like ordering a pint of bleach in the bar after the fight. That was just how it made me feel.” It was the night it went horridly wrong. Rhiannon Dixon was odds-on to defeat Terri Harper in defence of her WBO world lightweight title. But Harper defied those pre-fight odds to inflict the first defeat on the professional resume of Dixon and make herself a three-weight world champion in the process.

“It was just a massively disappointing night, Anthony Crolla told me over Zoom. Crolla has been in the corner of the former white-collar fighter since the depths of lockdown. The loss to Harper last September in Sheffield still runs deep. “I don’t want to take anything away from Terri; she fought a smart fight, and we wish her all the best. But it was really frustrating. Everyone has an off night. Rhiannon is capable of so much better than what she showed that night. Even when Rhiannon hurt Terri in the 6th, it wasn’t even the real Rhiannon then. She’s normally a lot more spiteful with her shots and picking her punches. It was a hard watch. But Terri had a good game plan and all credit to her, but it was a massively frustrating night for us. You have them in boxing. But it was the timing of it. There would have been a few offers that would have come her way if she had beaten Terri that night.” Dixon was in line for a lucrative all-British showdown with Caroline Dubois if she had beaten Harper.

The Warrington fighter has publicly stated her desire to fight Terri Harper again, but her trainer also wants her to start enjoying the process a little more going forward. Something that might have cost her against Harper last year. “Rhiannon puts a lot of pressure on herself, and I think she put too much pressure on herself that night. But I think she has learned a lot from that now. Rhiannon has to start enjoying it a little more now, and I think she is a little more relaxed now. We would love another crack at Terri. Will we get it? We don’t know. If we don’t, we’ll go on a different route.”

There were some suggestions that the fight with Harper came a little too early for Dixon, but her trainer doesn’t believe that to be the case. “I don’t think it was too soon for Rhiannon. I have seen what she is capable of in the gym. I still believe the best version of Rhiannon Dixon beats Terri Harper. But that’s not what happened on the night, and experience did come into play. We would have liked a rematch, but we didn’t expect one. We just have to go our own route now; they might fight again, or they might not. It was just a valuable lesson for Rhiannon.”

Rhiannon Dixon was due to be out again earlier this year in Altrincham, but a foot injury that subsequently required surgery has put her ‘comeback’ on ice until later this year. “By the time she gets back in the ring, it would have been over a year since the Terri fight,” Crolla says. “But Rhiannon has stayed in the gym; she is non-stop. She was even in the gym with one boot on, one knee on the box, while she was punching away. It’s one of those things where we can’t rush back; she’s had surgery. But Rhiannon has been learning every day in the gym. Rhiannon is one of the hardest workers I have come across.”

The planned return was scheduled to be at super-featherweight, and fighting south of lightweight holds no fears for Team Dixon. But they haven’t ruled out another run at lightweight gold either. But no matter what weight Dixon settles on moving forward, her trainer firmly believes more world titles are in his fighter’s future, and her best days are still ahead of her.

“The nutritionist is confident Rhiannon can make a lower weight,” Crolla relayed to me. “We would be open to things at lightweight, but if we can make it work at super-featherweight, then that is an option as well. I believe Rhiannon Dixon can be a world champion again. Rhiannon is still a baby in the sport, and she will only get better from here. It was amazing what she achieved in such a short space of time, and I think she wants to prove a lot of people wrong, and she has got so much more potential. When she is right, we will get her out in an eight-rounder. That’s the plan, and then we will take it from there and see what opportunities arise.”

Photo Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing