Terri Harper takes on two-weight world champion Ivana Habazin after Cecilia Braekhus forced to withdraw

Denaby Main’s Harper was due to make the first defence of her WBA super-welterweight title against former undisputed welterweight queen Braekhus at Dublin’s 3Arena on Saturday night but her challenger pulled out on the morning of the bout due to illness.

She will now take on Habazin, who has won world titles at welterweight and middleweight, at the Manchester Arena this Saturday.

Habazin has won 21 of her 25 fights as a professional and has previously shared the ring with both Braekhus and Claressa Shields, one of the finest talents in women’s boxing.

She won the IBF welterweight title in 2014 before moving up two weight classes and claiming the IBO middleweight title in 2018.

The 33-year-old’s last fight, in October, saw her collect the WBC Silver welterweight strap – a junior version of the WBC world title.

According to Harper’s manager Stefy Bull Croat Habazin had been a sparring partner for Katie Taylor in the build-up to her undisputed showdown against Chantelle Cameron, which took place on Saturday.

Harper bounced back from her only career defeat against Alycia Baumgardner to beat Hannah Rankin and claim the WBA and IBO world super-welterweight titles in September.

She won her first world title four weight categories below at super-featherweight but had no problem stepping up on the scales as she outclassed Rankin to win comfortably on all three judges’ scorecards.