DONCASTER, England — Terri Harper set up an all-British lightweight unification with Ring Magazine No. 1 Caroline Dubois with a one-sided beatdown of brave Natalie Zimmerman at Keepmoat Stadium.

The 28-year-old WBO lightweight champion, who is rated No.3 by The Ring, proved a class apart from her 42-year-old visitor, who had never boxed anyone with a winning record before this fight.

It had looked as though Harper was set for an early stoppage, but Zimmerman dug deep and made it through all 10 rounds despite heavy pressure from the defending champion. The judges gave the challenger little for the heart shown, however, as they all scored for Harper at 99-91.

Harper (16-2-2, 6 KOs) can now fully set her sights on the mooted clash with Dubois, who holds the WBC title and is desperate to unify the division.

Zimmerman arrived in Doncaster for what was her first fight outside of central Europe undefeated (13-0). But four of those victories came against debutants and the last opponent she beat was 2-3.

A former kickboxer, the German only started her boxing career in August 2020 at 38, and this was her first experience at world level.

In contrast, former WBC super featherweight world champion Harper has been operating at the very pinnacle of the sport for the past few years. In her last three outings, she has boxed for world titles at three different weights.

She failed in her bid for the vacant WBO super welterweight title due to a controversial draw with Cecilia Braekhus in October 2023. Five months later, Harper was beaten by Sandy Ryan when she challenged for the WBO welterweight belt.

But she got back to winning ways on Sept. 28 when she claimed the WBO lightweight title via a unanimous decision victory over Rhiannon Dixon. Her reward for that was this homecoming fight at Keepmoat, which was her first outing in the town since 2018. The GBM promoted show was shown live on DAZN.

Harper got straight down to business, piling on the pressure in the first round in search of an early stoppage against the fitness coach from Hamburg. And there was no let up from Harper in the second, spearing hard one-twos through Zimmerman’s guard almost at will.

It felt like a case of when, not if, Harper would mark this homecoming with a stoppage as she had it all her own way in the early stages, with Zimmerman incapable of landing anything in response.

The visitor was, however, strong, tough and refused to wilt under almost constant pressure from Harper, who was showing some signs of frustration after three rounds. Harper landed a left hook-right hand combination in the fourth, too, but Zimmerman held firm despite her legs buckling momentarily.

The German decided to throw caution to the wind in the fifth, stomping forward and attempting to overwhelm Harper up close. And she had plenty of success in the sixth, too, as Harper’s early frenetic pace slowed down. Much of it was untidy, but it was enough to keep her in the fight and keep Harper off her.

The champion clearly began to target the body in the eighth which started to back up Zimmerman once again, but the two-minute rounds came and went too quickly for Harper to set up the stoppage she craved. The pair traded throughout a high-octane ninth round as well, but still Zimmerman was going nowhere.

She was, however, badly cut above her right eye and referee Steve Gray called in the ringside doctor to check on it. The fight was allowed to continue, but Harper, who quite literally had her opponent’s blood on her lips, poured forward in search of a stoppage which would never come.