British super-featherweight Terri Harper has withdrawn from her world title unification bout against Choi Hyun-mi that was scheduled to take place on May 15 at the Manchester Arena after refracturing her hand.

Harper had an operation after breaking her hand when she defended her WBC title by defeating Katharina Thanderz last November although she was poised to make her ring return later this month against WBA champion Choi.

But the 24-year-old will have to go under the knife once again after revealing scans have shown she “snapped the plate” while finalising her preparations for the bout, which she hopes can be rearranged for later in the year.

The unbeaten Harper said in a post on her social channels: “Absolutely devastated to announce that in my last spar of camp I have damaged my hand again. Heartbroken is not the word.

“Myself and my team have worked so hard over the last 5 months to ensure I had the best recovery and had a full training camp with no problems with my hand.

“Looking to be in next week for surgery. Thank you to all my team who’s helped with my recovery and prepare me for this fight, unfortunately we can’t see it out until the end.

“I’m only 24yr old with many big nights ahead, this is just a small set back and will be back stronger than ever.

“Hopefully this unification can happen before the end of the year, it’s still my dream to unify and be on the road to undisputed.”