By Jake Donovan

As rising superstar Katie Taylor moves up in weight, Anthony Crolla prepares to move on from the sport.

Perhaps the retirement tour has begun a bit early for Crolla, who was the only boxer to miss weight for Saturday's show at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.

Still, the card moves forward as planned as everyone else did their part at the scales. Headlining the bill, Ireland's Taylor moves up in weight as the unbeaten World lightweight champion squares off with reigning junior welterweight titlist Christina Linardatou.

Both boxers came in well below the 140-pound limit for the evening's main event, which will air live on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and DAZN in the United States. Greece's Linardatou (12-1, 6KOs) tipped the scales at a fighting fit 138.5 pounds for the second defense of her junior welterweight title. Taylor (14-0, 6KOs) weighed in at 139.6 pounds for her debut at junior welterweight, as well as her first fight back in the United Kingdom since last July.

Four straight U.S. appearances have followed for Taylor, a two-time Olympian and 2012 Olympic Gold medalist who now serves as the undisputed lightweight queen. Included in her stateside tour were back-to-back title unification wins over Rose Volante and Delfine Persoon, the latter marking the toughest test of her three-year pro career as she claimed a 10-round majority decision in their undisputed championship clash this past June in New York City.

Persoon is also responsible for the lone loss on the ledger of Linardatou, who has since bounced back with four straight wins. The Dominican Republic-born boxer claimed her first major title with a 6th round knockout of Kandi Wyatt this past March, registering her first successful title defense with a 10-round decision over Deenha Hobbs in June, both bouts coming versus undefeated opponents in her adopted hometown of Athens, Greece.

Saturday night will mark the fourth consecutive fight for Linardatou against an undefeated opponent.

Garnering just as much attention is one of the city's greatest boxing ambassadors, as Crolla enters the fight of his career. The former lightweight titlist takes on Spain's Frank Urquiaga (13-1-1, 1KO) in a scheduled 10-round lightweight contest.

A regional title was made available for the bout, but is only eligible for Urquiaga, who weighed 134 pounds, well under the contracted limit.

Manchester's Crolla (34-7-3, 13KOs) went in the opposite direction, showing up at a beefy 136.75 pounds and thus will not be eligible for the fringe title at stake.

Still, he has enjoyed a celebrated career, including an unlikely lightweight title reign that came after sustaining near-fatal injuries while thwarting a robbery attempt in Dec. 2014. The wildly popular Mancunian bravely returned to the ring seven months later, only to settle for a disputed 12-round draw versus Darleys Perez in their July 2015 title fight.

Crolla came up aces in the rematch, knocking out Perez in five rounds to claim the crown which he defended once before dropping back-to-back decision defeats to Jorge Linares. The entirety of Crolla's title reign took place at Manchester Arena, where he will fight for the 14th and final time on Saturday.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox