{"id":362345,"date":"2026-01-10T06:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T06:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/362345\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T06:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T06:58:12","slug":"elif-turhan-signs-matchroom-deal-and-sets-first-ibf-defence-in-newcastle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/362345\/","title":{"rendered":"Elif Turhan Signs Matchroom Deal And Sets First IBF Defence In Newcastle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"67\" data-end=\"367\">Elif Nur Turhan has extended her agreement with Matchroom Boxing and confirmed the first defence of her IBF World Lightweight Title later this month, marking an early and important step in her 2026 schedule. The defence is set for Saturday, January 31 in Newcastle and will be streaming <a class=\"thirstylink\" rel=\"sponsored nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"DAZN\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boxingnews24.com\/go\/dazn-3\/\" data-shortcode=\"true\">live on DAZN<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"369\" data-end=\"751\">Elif Nur Turhan secured the IBF title in December with a fifth-round stoppage of Beatriz Ferreira in Monte-Carlo, a result that followed knockout wins over Shauna Browne and Rima Ayadi earlier in the year. Those results closed a productive 2025 and established her position near the top of the lightweight division with a record of 12 wins and eight stoppages.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>First defence sets direction for 2026<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"795\" data-end=\"1055\">Turhan\u2019s title defence will come against Taylah Gentzen at Newcastle\u2019s Utilita Arena. The contest forms part of an undercard headlined by Bakhram Murtazaliev defending his IBF super welterweight title against local challenger Josh Kelly.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1057\" data-end=\"1330\">The fight offers Turhan immediate activity after winning the belt and provides clarity around her next phase as champion. While Gentzen arrives with less international profile, the bout gives Turhan a defined task and a chance to begin her title run in front of a UK crowd.<\/p>\n<p>Matchroom plans and a busy Newcastle card<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1378\" data-end=\"1521\">Eddie Hearn confirmed the new multi-fight agreement and outlined Matchroom\u2019s intentions following Turhan\u2019s title win.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1523\" data-end=\"1718\">\u201cElif is the hardest female puncher, pound-for-pound, no question,\u201d said Hearn. \u201cI\u2019m thrilled to have signed Elif to a new deal with Matchroom because there are many huge nights waiting for her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1720\" data-end=\"1858\">Hearn added that a future fight with Caroline Dubois would be of interest but stressed that Turhan\u2019s focus remains on her January defence.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1860\" data-end=\"2278\">The Newcastle card also includes Josh Padley challenging Jaouad Belmehdi for the vacant EBU super featherweight title, further professional outings for Leo Atang and Brad Casey, and the professional debut of local amateur standout Kiaran MacDonald. A Northern Area lightweight title fight between unbeaten rivals Josh Blenkiron and Robbie Colman rounds out a schedule built around regional involvement and development.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2280\" data-end=\"2522\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">For Turhan, the immediate objective is straightforward. A successful first defence would stabilise her position as champion and allow longer-term plans to develop naturally, without rushing past the work required to sustain a world title run.<\/p>\n<p>Tom Galm has covered the global boxing scene since 2014, specializing in heavyweight analysis, business trends, and fighter psychology.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnews24.substack.com\/subscribe\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Click here to subscribe to our FREE newsletter<\/a>Related Boxing News:<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tCategories <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boxingnews24.com\/boxer\/boxing\/\" rel=\"category tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Latest<\/a> \t\t<\/p>\n<p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.boxingnews24.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Boxing News 24<\/a> \u00bb Elif Turhan Signs Matchroom Deal and Sets First IBF Defence in Newcastle<\/p>\n<p>Last Updated on 01\/09\/2026 \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elif Nur Turhan has extended her agreement with Matchroom Boxing and confirmed the first defence of her IBF&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-362345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}