Rhiannon Dixon aims to cap 'dream' rise with WBO lightweight title win

A gym tucked away behind a non-league football team's clubhouse is not the typical place to prepare for a world title fight.

But training in this unconventional location - next to eighth-tier Avro FC's Vestacare Stadium on an Oldham housing estate - suits Rhiannon Dixon just fine.

She proudly describes herself as "an anomaly when it comes to women's boxing", having only taken up the sport aged 21 as a pharmacy student at Manchester University.

Now, seven years later, she has won all nine of her pro fights and is gearing up for her shot at a lightweight belt recently vacated by Katie Taylor.

Warrington-born Dixon faces Argentina's Karen Elizabeth Carabajal for the WBO title in the more auspicious surroundings of the Manchester Arena on Saturday.

The Briton was working as a pharmacist as recently as last year - having also done so during the Covid pandemic - before focusing on boxing full-time.

"I started boxing when I was 21, then at 28 I'm fighting for a world title - it's what dreams are made of, and it means so much I can do it so close to home as well," she tells BBC Sport.

• How Dixon went from pharmacist to boxer

I must give her kittens at times - Crolla

While Dixon may be short on big-fight experience, her trainer Anthony Crolla is not.

The former world champion agreed to coach Dixon for a session following his retirement in 2019, after her manager called him while he was on holiday in Portugal - and the pair have worked together since.

If Dixon beats Carabajal, she will become the first world champion trained by Crolla from his Fox ABC gym.

It is not only their backgrounds and experience in which fighter and trainer are very different, but their outlooks on training - and Dixon believes that is one of the reasons why the partnership works.

"I'm very self-critical, I will walk out and say 'that's the worst sparring of my life'," she says.

"Ant is like 'what are you on about', and I point out this, this and this.

"He'll then say 'you did all this, everything I asked you to', but I'll say 'I'm pathetic' and have to hang my head in shame."

Crolla admits he may give Dixon "kittens" due to his laid-back attitude, compared to her "military" approach, but that contrast has helped elevate her as a fighter - while he has improved as a coach having learned from Joe Gallagher, the man who led him to a world title.

"Joe was very meticulous," he says. "I'll be honest, I will never be as meticulous as Joe, but I do my best to study opponents.

"My team here will watch fights then talk tactics over with Rhiannon. As a coach it is great to get recognition but I am grateful for the team around me."

'It is the stuff of fairytales'

The 37-year-old acknowledges he will have to guide the inexperienced Dixon through the biggest night of her boxing life, and admits even he has been taken aback by her rapid rise.

"It's possibly come a fight or two earlier than ideal, because of her inexperience," Crolla says. "But it is a fight with her confidence that she should win, and can win in style.

"We wouldn't put her in for a fight if we didn't think she was ready. I believe she will be world champion."

While Dixon will be the one in the ring, it will be a huge night for Crolla personally as his charge fights at the arena where he won the WBA lightweight title against Darleys Perez in 2015.

He says Dixon has to keep her cool against the more experienced Carabajal, 33, who has only lost once in 23 bouts - a narrow defeat by Taylor at Wembley in 2022.

Crolla's younger brother William is also fighting on the card against an as-yet unconfirmed opponent, and the trainer admits it will be difficult - but crucial - to keep his emotions in check too.

"I care about all of my fighters, but this is the biggest night [of my coaching career]," he says.

"It is a very special night for me, probably very emotional, and as a coach I have to keep my emotions in check. But these are the nights you get into coaching for.

"A world title fight in Manchester where I had so many big nights myself - I couldn't have written it any better.

"It is the stuff of fairytales, it makes me unbelievably proud and I want it so bad for Rhiannon because I see how hard she works."

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