Alycia Baumgardner unleashed a huge right hand to stop Terri Harper in the fourth round and win the WBC, IBO super featherweight title on the Galahad-Martinez bill in Sheffield. 

Baumgardner had been a big outsider at the bookmakers, but she did not look the slightest overwhelmed, beating Harper to the punch early on and overpowering her. 

The finish, 23 seconds into the fourth round, came from one big shot. She had rocked Harper with a right in the second but the effect when the shot landed in the fourth was vicious, as Harper almost seemed out on her feet and referee Mark Lyson did well to jump in to save Harper from taking a free shot as Baumgardner rushed in. 

The 27-year-old from Michigan believed before that she was being unfairly overlooked and so it proved. She became the second unheralded American to beat a British world champion in the UK in recent weeks after Jamie Mitchell beat Shannon Courtenay. 

“I dreamed of this moment,” Baumgardner said. “I looked in the mirror every day and I told myself I will be a world champion. 

“I came over here as the challenger and the underdog and my confidence was 100 and I just didn’t see that in her. She was fragile so I just had to jump on it.  

“I know a lot of people haven’t seen me and I have been given a platform to showcase that I can box and I can punch, but boxing is what we were doing because she was going to come to box. 

“For everyone out there at 130, you know I am the top dog so come and get this work.” 

Baumgardner started well, throwing a quick jab from a low guard and landed the first decent shot with a looping right. But Harper came back well, landing a short right and a combination on the bell to end the first.  

Early in the second, though, Baumgardner landed a big overhand right that landed high on the head and rocked Harper. As she looked to hold, Baumgardner wrestled her to the floor, but Harper looked dazed and it wasn’t until late in the round that she seemed on firm legs. 

Harper did better in the third, as Baumgardner seemed to wait too long in the search for a big shot. 

That big shot was not long in coming. Seconds into the fourth round, Baumgardner landed a big right that stiffened Harpers legs and saw her turn away and freezing on the spot, referee Lyson saving her from the follow up. 

It was the first fight in a year for Harper after she had two operations on a broken right hand. As it was a voluntary defence, Harper has a rematch clause, although at 25 and in only her 13th professional bout, she might want another fight before that. 

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.