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The show goes on even in the absence of its local hero.
Maxi Hughes and Kid Galahad are prepared to take the lead in their makeshift main event, as both made weight for their scheduled twelve-round IBO lightweight contest. The bout will headline a DAZN telecast Saturday evening from Nottingham Arena in Nottingham, England.
Hughes (25-5-2, 5KOs) weighed 134.4 pounds as he aims to make the second defense of the IBO lightweight title he claimed in a twelve-round decision over Jovanni Straffon last September 4 in Leeds. The 32-year-old southpaw from Rossington, Yorkshire is currently riding a six-fight win streak, including wins over former title challengers Jono Carroll and Paul Hyland, Jr., as well as then-unbeaten Viktor Kotochigov.
Galahad (28-2, 17KOs) weighed a career-heaviest but well-proportioned 134.7 pounds. The bout is his first at lightweight, making a two-division leap after having previously campaigned at featherweight for much of the past six years. The 32-year-old Sheffield native previously held the IBF featherweight belt, which he conceded in a stunning sixth-round knockout defeat to Kiko Martinez last November 13 in his hometown.
Hughes-Galahad was elevated to the top slot after local favorite and current secondary WBA featherweight titlist Leigh Wood suffered a biceps injury, thus postponing his title defense against Mauricio ‘Bronco’ Lara.
The co-main event features WBA/IBO junior middleweight titlist Hannah Rankin in her second title defense as she faces former WBC/IBO junior lightweight titlist Terri Harper.
Glasgow’s Rankin (12-5, 3KOs) weighed 153.4 pounds for the scheduled ten-round contest. The bout is her third back at junior middleweight after one-stop fights at welterweight and middleweight, the latter in a seventh-round knockout loss to Savannah Marshall (12-0, 10KOs) in their October 2020 vacant WBO middleweight title fight.
Harper (12-1-1, 6KOs) weighed a career-heaviest 152 pounds, making her junior middleweight debut. The 25-year-old from Denaby Main, Yorkshire only recently moved up to lightweight earlier this year in her first fight after losing her 130-pound titles via fourth-round knockout to Alycia Baumgardner last November 13 on the same show that saw Galahad lose his title before deciding to move well up in weight.
The title fight has featured a contentious build-up, complete with the two literally going head-to-head on stage after Friday’s weigh-in and having to be separated by the Matchroom Boxing security team.
DAZN, 2:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. GMT:
Solomon Dacres (4-0, 1KO), Warley, West Midlands, 229.4 pounds vs. Ariel Bracamante (11-9, 6KOs), La Cumbre, Argentina, 305.5 pounds—10 rounds, heavyweight
Cheavon Clarke (2-0, 2KOs), Gravesend, Kent, 199.3 pounds vs. Marcos Nicolas Karalitzky (7-5-2, 2KOs), Buenos Aires, Argentina, 197.5 pounds—8 rounds, cruiserweight
Cyrus Pattinson (4-0, 2KOs), Alnwick, Northumberland, 146.4 pounds vs. Jorick Luisetto (12-4, 3KOs), Echirolles, France, 147—6 rounds, welterweight
DAZN/Matchroom Boxing YouTube ‘Before The Bell’ Undercard (4:35 p.m. GMT/11:35 a.m. ET):
Junaid Bostan (2-0, 2KOs), Rotherham, Yorkshire, 154.9 pounds vs. Anas Isarte (2-0, 0KOs), 153.6—6 rounds, junior middleweight
Rhiannon Dixon (5-0, 0KOs), Wigan, Lancashire, 134.8 pounds vs. Edina Kiss (15-15, 9KOs), Budapest, Hungary, 134.4 pounds—6 rounds, lightweight
Mohammad Sameer (4-0, 1KO), Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, 158.8 pounds vs. Dale Arrowsmith (4-65-2, 1KO), Hyde, Lancashire, 159.1 pounds—4 rounds, middleweight
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox