BOXER Hannah Rankin is making final preparations for her first-ever tilt at a world championship title this weekend.

The former Hermitage Academy pupil will challenge Alicia Napoleon for the WBA super-middleweight championship at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, on Saturday.

It’ll be the 27-year-old’s toughest challenge yet after she turned pro last year, and follows her WBC silver super-middleweight victory against Sanna Turunen of Finland in Paisley in June.

‘Team Rankin’ – comprising Rankin’s fiance Mike, her dad, her sisters and her coach Noel Callan – touched down in the Big Apple on Tuesday to begin their final preparations for Saturday’s fight against defending champion Napoleon.

In a post on Instagram the defending champion said: “We are both belt holders and coming to win. This is a fight you won’t want to miss.”

Rankin, however, is determined she’s going to cause an upset on Saturday – replying to that post, she insisted: “I’m proud to be part of the first female fight at the Coliseum, but the belt is coming back to the UK and Scotland.”