Hannah Rankin v Ema Kozin: Scottish fighter on unification dream

Hannah Rankin says it "would make me so proud" if she became Scotland's first female unified world champion.

The 33-year-old will face Slovenia's Ema Kozin, 24, at Manchester's AO Arena and the WBO as well as the WBC light-middleweight title is now up for grabs.

Rankin lost her WBA title to England's Terri Harper in September 2022 before outpointing Logan Holler in March.

"I'm so excited. It is awesome it is for the WBO as well as WBC title," she told BBC Scotland's 'Nine' programme.

"Hopefully two belts are coming back to Scotland on Saturday. It would be something else in the history books, something I never expected to do.

"It would be following in the footsteps of some fantastic male boxers, so I would be very, very proud of that.

"It would mean the world to me. There's nothing better than making your country proud. It would be the perfect end to the year to be able to bring the two world titles back to Scotland.

"There is a big crowd coming down from Scotland. Manchester is in the middle between London and Scotland so I have my fans from both coming.

"I'm on the card with British champion Nathaniel Collins too, from home, so there will be a good Scottish crowd on the night."

Kozin boasts a 23-1 record - with her only defeat coming to the revered Claressa Shields last year.

However Rankin, a classically trained musician, believes she is in her best shape ever following work with Abertay University that is believed to be the first research of its kind in female boxing.

"They've been doing some world-leading research into female combat athletes and boxing as a whole," Rankin added.

"Professional boxing isn't really researched that much so it's fantastic they are leading the way on that and I am actually involved in it.

"It's made a huge difference with my training. I'm a bit of a geek, so I like to see the facts and figures and it's definitely improved my performance overall.

"My recovery is massively improved - and obviously you only have a minute to recover between rounds - and my performance levels within the round have improved too.

"I can't thank the guys enough for the work they've been doing - this is trailblazing for the sport and especially females."