FORMER Hermitage Academy pupil Hannah Rankin is back in the boxing ring on home turf on Friday night as she takes on Eva Bajic in her first fight of 2019.

Rankin takes on the former IBF world champion at the Crowne Plaza in Glasgow as part of Kynoch Boxing's Burns Supper event.

It's not only the Luss boxer's first fight of the year – it's also her first contest since her narrow points defeat to double world champion Claressa Shields in Kansas in November.

And Friday's fight will be Rankin's first in Scotland since last June June, when she secured the vacant World Boxing Council silver female middleweight title by defeating Finland’s Sanna Turunen at the Lagoon Leisure Centre in Paisley.

The 28-year-old, now ranked fourth in the world, has also launched an online crowdfunding appeal to raise £10,000 towards the cost of her bid to become Scotland's first female boxing world champion by the end of this year.

READ MORE: Rankin launches crowdfunder in bid to be 2019 world champion

Rankin told 'Let's Hear It For The Girls' on RockSport Radio this week: "I'm lucky when I come up to Scotland – my manager is Sam Kynoch and I'm on his shows when I come back here. But elsewhere I have to pay to be on the show – you're looking at £1,000 to actually be allowed to box before you do anything else, and then you've got to cover your opponent's costs.

"There's a lot of things to pay for. And the problem with being a female boxer in this country is there's just not enough of us – it's a lot more expensive for us than it is for the boys."

READ MORE: Hannah holds her head high after going distance with world champion

Rankin’s last appearance at the Crowne Plaza was in January 2018, when she defeated Klaudia Vigh on a technical knock-out in her first fight in Scotland since turning professional – though an awful lot has happened since then, including a debut contest in the USA back in August against Alicia Napoleon and a first appearance on live TV.

Listen to Let's Hear It For The Girls with Hannah Rankin here.