Hannah Rankin

Hannah Rankin (born 21 July 1990) is a Scottish professional boxer and bassoonist.^[2] She held the WBA female super-welterweight title since November 2021. She has also held the IBO title in 2019 and challenged for the WBA female super-middleweight title in 2018; the unified WBA, WBC, and IBF female middleweight titles in 2018; and the WBO female middleweight title in 2020. As of October 2020, she is ranked as the fifth best active female middleweight by The Ring^[3] and sixth by BoxRec.^[4]

Early life[]

Hannah Rankin was born on 21 July 1990 and grew up on her family's Edentaggart farm in Luss, Scotland.^[5] As a child, she attended Hermitage Academy in Helensburgh, Scotland,^[6] and gained an interest in contact sports at aged nine after enrolling in taekwondo classes with her younger sister.^[7] Aside from sports she also had an interest in music, learning to play the flute at school and eventually switching to the bassoon. As an accomplished bassoonist, she attended the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, and later the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she earned a master's degree in 2016.^[8] She continues her musical career alongside boxing, teaching music to children and performing in her quintet "Coriolis" at care homes and schools.^[9]

Professional career[]

Rankin made her professional debut on 21 May 2017, against Ester Konecna at the SkyLark Hotel in Essex, England, winning via points decision (PTS) over six rounds.^[10] She fought a further three times in 2017; a points decision win over Borislava Goranova in September;^[11] a split decision (SD) loss to Joanna Ekedahl in October;^[12] and a points decision win in a rematch with Ester Konecna in November.^[13]

She started 2018 with a first-round technical knockout (TKO) win over Klaudia Vigh in January,^[14] before facing Sarah Turunen for her first professional title on 16 June 2018, at the Lagoon Leisure Centre in Paisley, Scotland. Rankin won via unanimous decision (100–90, 100–91, 99–91) over ten rounds to capture the vacant WBC Silver female middleweight title.^[15]

Two months later, she made her first attempt at a world title on 4 August 2018, challenging reigning world champion Alicia Napoleon for the WBA female super-middleweight title at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. Rankin lost by unanimous decision with one judge scoring the bout 99–91, and the other two scoring it 98–92, all in favour of Napoleon.^[16]

In her next fight, Rankin made a second attempt at world honours on 17 November 2018, against two-time Olympic gold medalist and reigning unified WBA and IBF female middleweight champion, Claressa Shields, with the vacant WBC title also up for grabs. The bout took place at the Kansas Star Arena in Mulvane, Kansas. Shields was originally scheduled to face undefeated WBO middleweight champion Christina Hammer, who pulled out due to illness.^[17] Rankin suffered the third loss of her professional career via unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the bout 100–90 in a contest that many outlets described as a dominant performance by Shields.^{[18][19][20][21]}

Following a points decision win over Eva Bajic in January 2019,^[22] Rankin made a third attempt for a world title against Sarah Curran on 15 June 2019, for the vacant IBO super-welterweight title. The bout took place at the Lagoon Leisure Centre in Paisley, Scotland. Rankin scored a ten-round unanimous decision victory, with all three judges scoring the bout 96–94, to become Scotland's first female world champion.^[23] After a six-round unanimous decision win over Erin Toughill in a non-title bout in October, Rankin made the first defence of her title against undefeated WBC interim champion Patricia Berghult on 27 November 2019, at the Hotel Intercontinental in St. Julian's, Malta. In a fight that saw Rankin dropped in the first-round by a left hook, she lost her IBO title by unanimous decision over ten rounds. Two judges scored the bout 96–93 while the third scored it 95–94, all in favour of Berghult.^[24]

Professional boxing record[]

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
16	Win	11–5	Maria Lindberg	UD	10	5 Nov 2021	Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, England	Won vacant WBA and IBO super welterweight titles
15	Win	10–5	Kholosa Ndobayini	PTS	8	12 Mar 2021	Pollsmoor Prison Hall, Cape Town, South Africa
14	Loss	9–5	Savannah Marshall	TKO	7 (10), 1:59	31 Oct 2020	The SSE Arena, London, England	For vacant WBO female middleweight title
13	Win	9–4	Eva Bajic	TKO	3 (8), 1:51	8 Feb 2020	Lagoon Leisure Center, Paisley, Scotland
12	Loss	8–4	Patricia Berghult	UD	10	27 Nov 2019	Hotel Intercontinental, St. Julian's, Malta	Lost IBO female super-welterweight title; For WBC interim female super-welterweight title
11	Win	8–3	Erin Toughill	UD	6	5 Oct 2019	Dort Federal Event Center, Flint, Michigan, US
10	Win	7–3	Sarah Curran	UD	10	15 Jun 2019	Lagoon Leisure Centre, Paisley, Scotland	Won vacant IBO female super-welterweight title
9	Win	6–3	Eva Bajic	PTS	8	25 Jan 2019	Crowne Plaza Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland
8	Loss	5–3	Claressa Shields	UD	10	17 Nov 2018	Kansas Star Arena, Mulvane, Kansas, US	For WBA, IBF, and vacant WBC middleweight titles
7	Loss	5–2	Alicia Napoleon	UD	10	4 Aug 2018	Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York, US	For WBA female super-middleweight title
6	Win	5–1	Sanna Turunen	UD	10	16 Jun 2018	Lagoon Leisure Centre, Paisley, Scotland	Won vacant WBC Silver female middleweight title
5	Win	4–1	Klaudia Vigh	TKO	1 (8), 0:59	26 Jan 2018	Crowne Plaza Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland
4	Win	3–1	Ester Konecna	PTS	8	10 Nov 2017	York Hall, London, England
3	Loss	2–1	Joanna Ekedahl	SD	4	21 Oct 2017	Oslofjord Convention Center, Stokke, Norway
2	Win	2–0	Borislava Goranova	PTS	6	22 Sep 2017	Westcroft Leisure Centre, London, England
1	Win	1–0	Ester Konecna	PTS	6	21 May 2017	SkyLark Hotel, Southend, England

References[]

External links[]