Terri Harper: The dream continues

Terri Harper’s journey from working in a fish and chip shop to winning a world title in just her 10^th fight is nothing short of a fairytale. 

It may sound farfetched, even now that it has become reality, but her trainer and manager Stefy Bull was never in doubt. It was all part of his vision when he sent Harper a text three years ago selling her a dream. The dream came true. Harper captured the WBC super-featherweight title in February against Eva Wahlstrom, whose only defeat to that point had come against Katie Taylor.

The 24-year-old then made history as she participated in the first all-British female world title fight against Natasha Jonas. In the unfamiliar surroundings of the Matchroom HQ gardens, the two women produced a thriller, back in August.

The bout was gruelling. At 36, Jonas rolled back the years, showing all the skill and experience she gained whilst on the GB Squad as an amateur. Jonas fought like a woman possessed, but Harper refused to let her dream come to an end in her first defence, she bit down on her gumshield and traded leather with her former idol. Ultimately, the contest was ruled a draw.

Given Harper’s age and inexperience, most would have forgiven her for taking a few more routine defences to allow her the time to hone her skills. However, that is the last thing on the mind of either Bull or Harper. Again, they are dreaming big. The new ambition is to become the undisputed world super-featherweight champion.

If Harper (10-0-1, 5 KOs) is to achieve her new goal, first she must overcome the challenge posed by Katharina Thanderz tonight at the SSE Arena, Wembley. Harper is confident, promising to showcase her boxing rather than her brawling ability.

“I’m going to get back behind me jab, using me long limbs,” Harper told Boxing Social. “I look back at the fight with Tash now, and I just cringe because it was totally alien to what I usually do. I did everything the opposite of what we’d been working on in the gym. I want to get back to how I box and just not get involved in that scrap, that I know Thanderz will be looking for.”

The champion sounded relaxed as her and Bull spoke to Boxing Social from the hotel acting as the pre-fight bubble, after yesterday’s weigh-in. While Harper has previously had the opportunity to acclimatise to a fight week in the bubble, ahead of her bout with Jonas, she has found this experience a more pleasant one.

For ‘Fight Camp’, control measures were more stringent, but now some of the restrictions have eased to an extent and Harper has felt the benefit.

“I’m enjoying myself a little bit too much,” she said with a laugh. “It’s good compared to the fight bubble in Essex, it’s completely different. We were literally cooped up in [our] rooms and we had nowhere to go really, we were eating in our rooms. All we had was an outside area that was tiny, so everyone was on each other’s toes. Whereas at this one, we’ve got a nice lounge area, that we are sat in now watching tv, there’s a balcony, there’s a dining area, games room, cinema room. It’s a loads better set up.”

For Harper, everything has gone a little smoother ahead of the Thanderz fight than it did back in August. Due to Lockdown restrictions, sparring partners were hard to come by. This time, everything has been different. After two weeks out of the gym immediately after the Jonas contest, one of which was spent in Turkey with Bull and their respective partners, Bull and Harper were back in the gym. Lessons had been learned from the previous and changes were implemented. Bull believes that Harper will reap the rewards of her effort tonight.

“We’ve had a lot more time just to work on Terri’s improvements and things we were getting wrong,” Bull said. “Because of Terri’s lack of amateur experience, we’ve been learning on the job. On social media, I’ve been banging the drum for how good Terri is since I turned her over three years ago. Since she signed with Matchroom and we got the big contract, we’ve gone from [Viviane] Obenauf, to [Eva] Wahlstrom, to Natasha, so the process of improving Terri has slowed down because I’ve been working on who she’s been fighting and how we beat them tactically. 

“We’ve brought in a strength and conditioning coach because she’s a great athlete but just lacked the confidence in being a little more active with her workrate. We’ve been working on a much higher workrate and things like the little bit of rushing in she did now and again, darting in too fast and not punching long from her hips, not coming in too square-on and things like that. We have been working constantly and it’s been great that I’ve [brought in] the strength and conditioning coach in because I’ve not longer got to spend time doing the circuits and getting fit, that’s now his job and my boxing program runs alongside him. He’s been working on strength and conditioning and I’ve been working on fundamentals, using her long limbs that’s she’s been naturally gifted with. It’s basically back to basics. It’s just getting things correct and ironing things out. I’m expecting a much more experienced, polished and confident Terri Saturday night.”

Bull’s passion is clear when he talks about his protégé. He knows how good Harper is, but is also convinced she can be so much better. Harper’s short, but successful, career in the unpaid ranks as a junior, mean that she is still relatively inexperienced, despite the fact that she holds a legitimate version of the world title. Due to the lack of depth in the women’s sport, there is very little opposition to bridge the gap between journeywomen and world class. As such, Bull was pleased with the Jonas brawl, as even though it did not resemble the gameplan in the slightest, he believes that Harper has benefited exponentially from the experience.

“With Terri, she only had 16 fights as a junior,” Bull said. “She’s had 16 fights as a child, where she only lost two, three national titles and a silver medal in the Europeans and then gone missing for four years. She never had a hard fight as a child. Four years out, no boxing whatsoever, never laced a glove and since she’s come back, she’s never been in a hard fight: Obenauf comfortable victory, Wahlstrom was a great fighter and had been a great champion for many a year, but that fight weren’t hard. Then, we come to Natasha and Natasha showed everyone what she had in the amateurs, but we hadn’t seen it for years.

“All Terri experienced there is her first hard fight. She’d never even had a hard spar. For the Jonas fight, it had been six months since Terri had been in with a female. Wahlstrom was the last time she’d hit a female. We were working with Jason Cunningham, but it weren’t realistic because Jason weren’t letting them [punches go], he weren’t trying to take Terri’s head off. In the six months between Wahlstrom and Jonas, Terri hasn’t had any serious contact or been hit round the head, never mind the fight she put up. I take away from that all the positives. I had a 23-year-old baby.”

Harper interjected to correct her coach, pointing out that she is, in fact, 24. “You were 23 at the time so stop butting in. A 23-year-old young lady who’s only had 16 amateur fights going in with a world class amateur who’s been all over the world and had over 100 fights and put in a performance like that! Natasha rolled back the years and gave us a great fight, it were a great performance and we made her relevant. Terri has took more from one fight than she has the previous three years she’s been a professional. I’m so confident that tomorrow night she’ll build on from the last fight and put the wrongs right and put in a clinical performance.”

While initially disappointed by her performance in the Jonas bout, Harper now sees the positives, it’s hard not to when Bull speaks so passionately and emphatically. In such a competitive fight, naturally, some believed that Jonas had done enough. A scorecard in Jonas’ favour was perfectly plausible given the nature of the contest, but to call the result a robbery is a stretch. However, the internet, Twitter in particular, is not known for well-reasoned remarks. At first, she took some of the criticism she received on social media to heart. Now, Harper has developed the mental resilience required by anyone in the public eye, she simply blocks out the naysayers, even managing to find the humour in the vitriol. 

“I were shocked at the people that were calling it a robbery and stuff like that,’ she said. “But people are welcome to their own opinions. People see what they want to see. At first, it did get to. I had to come away from social media for a bit. This is another thing I’m learning, how to be headstrong and turn off from the negative comments on social media because they don’t mean anything, really. 

“I was reading a comment from this guy and he finished it off with: ‘Terri can’t even box anyway’. I kinda had a little chuckle at that, I just think of the position I’m in, what I’m being paid and stuff like that. I’m not doing bad for someone who can’t box, apparently.”

The gender pay gap in boxing has been a hot topic as of late. Joe Gallagher, Jonas’ trainer, baulked at the offer made by Eddie Hearn to stage the rematch with Harper. While Harper cannot comment on what others are getting paid, she is more than happy with the terms of her latest deal.

As part of that deal, Harper has agreed to face the 2012 Olympian once more as she is eager to show what she is capable of. Harper is now able to look back on their first meeting with a sense of pride.

“Me personally, I’ve always been looked after very well by Matchroom and Eddie,” Harper said. “When we first got our contract, our purses were a lot lower, but we’ve built up our profile. We’ve worked hard and we’ve built that up. That’s why when Eddie gave us a new contract, it was money I wouldn’t have dreamt of in a million years.

“I’ve got my new contract and the rematch with Tasha is in that. I know that people are saying that I’m avoiding her and not wanting that smoke but that’s definitely not the case. I do believe that Tasha was given a contract and she declined the fight with me due to money. 

“I didn’t box to my best; it was just a bad night at the office for me. Luckily, I came away with the belts, still as a champion and I learned a lot from it. It was just a bad night at the office for me. Luckily, I came away with the belts, still as a champion and I learned a lot from it.

“The fact it were the first time two British females had fought for a world title, that added a bit of pressure. I’m just glad we were able to put on a show and such a good performance and to get the response we did after the fight. I know people are talking about it being fight of the year. As gutted as I were with the result, I got to come away and just be proud at being involved in such a great fight.”

If a rematch with Jonas cannot be agreed, with Jonas, Harper wants to continue to test herself against the best available opposition. There are several lucrative options available to her. Eddie Hearn recently signed IBF super-featherweight champion Maiva Hamadouche and yesterday announced that he had added WBA ruler Hyun-Mi Choi to the promotional stable.

If she is successful against Thanderz tonight, Harper is keen to face Choi in a unification immediately.

“That is what I’m wanting to do next,” she said of the Choi fight. “I believe I follow her on Instagram, so I have watched a few bits. Andrew [Bull’s real name] has been looking at the champions previously, so she’s someone I’ve seen quite a bit of.”

The plan may sound ambitious, but Harper is keen to become the undisputed super-featherweight world champion. Bull is in agreement and believes that the plan can be executed within the next two years.

While fights to unify three-quarters of the major sanctioning body straps should be simple enough to arrange, the final piece of the puzzle could be trickier to negotiate.

The WBO belt is currently in the possession of, 2016 Olympian, Mikaela Mayer after she claimed a unanimous decision victory over Ewa Brodnicka, two weeks ago.

Mayer has been vocal about her belief that she is the best in the world. Harper and Bull disagree and are determined to prove it.

“Undisputed is the goal,” Bull said. “Eddie has now got every champion barring Mayer. We got to put in a performance this week and I’ve got to get on Eddie’s toes and demand these unifications. Obviously, Mayer will be hard work because she’s [with] Top Rank and [she’s] American, but he’s got Hamadouche and he’s announced [on Friday] that he’s got Choi. The path is there. Within the next two years, I strongly believe that Terri could potentially be undisputed champion of the world and then move up the weights and do the same again. She’s the youngest of all champions, she’s got a great career ahead of her and she’s in a lifechanging opportunity she’s loving and enjoying every minute.”

Harper echoed the sentiment of her trainer. She believes she can soon be in possession of all four belts. While Mayer has been critical of Harper on social media, Harper would prefer to silence her in the ring. For Harper dream has only just begun.

“I know she runs her mouth, but I just leave her to do all the talking,” She said. “She’s building the fight for us. She’s a world champion and I want to fight the other world champions; I want to become undisputed and Mayer is not going to stand in the way of that.”

Main image and all photos: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing.