Rhiannon Dixon: A New Beginning

Rhiannon Dixon: A New Beginning

We haven’t seen Rhiannon Dixon inside a boxing ring since September 2024. A near two-year ring hiatus that could soon be coming to an end.

Fighters always live on the edge. They say you are only as good as your last fight. In most cases, that is an accurate statement. Pre-fight, there are plans. Post-fight, a defeat can make all those plans completely redundant.

Dixon knows this better than most. Heading into her fight with Terri Harper two years ago, one fighter was seemingly heading only upwards. The other was perceived as being one foot into retirement.

Harper, after suffering a one-sided mauling at the hands of Sandy Ryan in a failed bid for WBO welterweight glory only six months previously, was expected to lose again to Dixon and then be left with no choice but to walk away from boxing. At just 27, the Denaby fighter was a fighter supposedly in decline.

Dixon was undefeated in ten fights. The unbeaten WBO world lightweight champion was the fighter on the ascendancy. A potential unification showdown with Caroline Dubois was likely next for her. Two fighters apparently on a different career trajectory.

But Harper upset the odds to outpoint Dixon over ten rounds in Sheffield, and the Warrington fighter hasn’t fought since.

Dixon was scheduled to return in March of last year. But a foot injury sustained in training curtailed that comeback. The 31-year-old had surgery. It took longer than expected to recover. But finally, the former world lightweight champion is edging ever closer to a return to the ring.

There will be a different voice in her corner when Dixon makes that much-anticipated ring return later this year. Long-time trainer Anthony Crolla will be a notable absence the next time Dixon fights. Stephen Smith will now be at the helm guiding Dixon into the next phase of her career. “I wouldn’t have achieved anything without Ant,”
Dixon says of her former trainer. “I wouldn’t have left him if it wasn’t for personal matters.”

“I’ve someone in my family who isn’t well,” Dixon added. “I just need to be closer to home. The 4 Corner Gym in Liverpool is only 20 minutes away. The Oldham gym is an hour away.” Dixon and Crolla have achieved so much together, and they have parted on good terms.

It’s been a difficult few years for Dixon: a shock defeat, a lingering injury that kept delaying her ring comeback. But finally, things are moving in the right direction. A new trainer. A new beginning. But the goal remains the same.

“I am coming back to win world titles,” Dixon told me recently. A renewed desire to get back what was lost two years ago in Sheffield. A possible run in the super-featherweight ranks is being talked about. But Dixon has options at lightweight also.

Dixon wants to be back in the ring before the year is out. Tentative plans for a fight in either November or December are currently in play. A win should set her up for a highly productive 2027.

Many forget what she achieved in that first run. After only a handful of white-collar fights, Dixon turned professional in 2019 with a points victory over Vaida Masiokaite. Commonwealth and European titles followed before beating Karen Elizabeth Carabajal in Manchester in 2024 to claim that WBO world lightweight title. It was some achievement. And a forgotten one.

Time has been lost, but Dixon is still only 31. The peak years still ahead of her. There is no reason why Rhiannon Dixon can’t replicate her previous success. Maybe even surpass what was achieved the first time around.

Photo Credit: Matchroom Boxing