Doncaster's Terri Harper is a boxer renewed after statement win over Rhiannon Dixon in Sheffield

As quick as fighters can be built up and packaged as heroes, they can be torn down and thrown on the scrap heap.

Defeats can kickstart the depreciation process and fighters can be easily forgotten when they cease to be box office draws. It is this brutal fact that makes comebacks so sweet.

Terri Harper, of Denaby Main in South Yorkshire, was contemplating her future in the sport after a particularly trying chapter in her career.

A frustrating draw with boxing’s first lady, Cecilia Brækhus, had been followed up with a defeat to Derby’s Sandy Ryan.

Rhiannon Dixon was booked in as Harper’s next opponent but the pair were forced to endure a logistical nightmare as the venue was changed on two separate occasions.

Her recent points victory over Dixon in Sheffield not only made her a three-weight world champion, but reignited her passion for the ring.

"It was like a weight lifted off my shoulders,” she told The Yorkshire Post. “Obviously, I went into that camp knowing myself that it was probably the last roll of the dice. Everyone was saying 'you're only 27, how could it be the last roll?'. I was trying to explain to them that it was more for myself, I needed that win.

"Otherwise, I probably would have fallen out with the sport even more than I already had done. It’s just refreshing. It's nice to get a good, dominant win. It puts me back up there with the top.

"After you’ve had so many setbacks in your career, I feel like it's easy for people to just write you off.”

Harper’s return to form was no accident. Key changes were made to ensure the 27-year-old was in a strong position to breathe life back into her career.

Firstly, she made a return to the lightweight division after stints in various classes considerably less suited to her.

She also brought her former amateur coach, Paul Durose, back into her corner.

"Obviously, the results weren't what I wanted,” Harper said. “I felt like I was always training hard. I think it was the fact I was in higher weights I shouldn't have been in.

"I brought in Paul Durose, my amateur coach, just to freshen everything up this camp. He's really the one that stopped me from throwing in the towel and walking away. He kept me motivated throughout camp and got that fire burning again for me.

"Everything was so meticulous. The first day he walked in the gym to coach me, he handed me a booklet. It had everything he expected from me and what I could expect from him, and everything we were going to work on and cover.

"It was nice to go into the ring and have so many different game plans - a plan A, B, C. Knowing that everything had been covered in training just filled me with so much confidence going into the ring. I knew whatever I got from Rhiannon that night, I had an answer for it.”

Finding an upside to setbacks can be as tough as taking a punch but Harper appears to have emerged from her struggles a more rounded fighter.

Her experience shone through, from the way she controlled the distance and picked Dixon off to how she conducted herself away from the ring.

"I do feel like I'm really coming into my prime now,” Harper said. “Despite the results I've had in previous fights, I used it all as experience. I was going into that fight against Rhiannon, who is very inexperienced.

"I feel like I could tell how inexperienced she was by the way she handled herself in fight week - biting into things, getting dragged into trying to argue at the press conference. For me, I just went in there focused and knew what job I had to do.”

Harper’s fans will be relieved to know her pre-fight doubts regarding her career have now given way to bullish ambition.

Thoughts of walking away have been replaced by plans for the future, as ‘Belter’ looks to discover how high her ceiling truly is.

"I've been having a few laughs about not being retired and I just knew there was more for me to give to the sport,” she said. “There's a lot more I can still go on to achieve. This win's really put me back up there. It's going to open many doors for some big fight nights.

"I feel like it's just filled me with confidence. I got a great win, I've got a great team in my corner and it's exciting to know there's some great opportunities to come."

While some boxers look to lay their own path, Harper is happy to leave the matchmaking to the powers that be. All she knows is that she wants what is next to be big.

“Anything in the lightweight division,” Harper said. “Obviously Eddie [Hearn] mentioned a good few names after the fight.

"That got me excited and eager to get back in the gym and back to work. I want big fights and big names.”