Biography
Hannah Rankin is a Scottish professional boxer, boxing commentator and musician from Luss, Scotland.
At age 9, she gained an interest in contact sports after enrolling in taekwondo classes with her younger sister, before deciding to take up boxing. She made her professional boxing debut on 21 May 2017 against Ester Konecna at the SkyLark Hotel in Essex, England, winning a 6-round points decision.
In her first title bout on 16 June 2018, she faced Sarah Turunen at the Lagoon Leisure Centre in Paisley, Scotland, winning a points decision to capture the vacant WBC Silver middleweight title. Two months later, she made her first attempt at a full world title as she challenged the reigning champion, Alicia Napoleon-Espinosa, for the WBA super-middleweight title at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, but lost via unanimous decision.
Rankin made a second attempt to gain a world title on 17 November 2018, against two-time Olympic gold medalist and reigning unified WBA and IBF 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 and Rankin suffered the third loss of her professional career, again via unanimous decision. On 15 June 2019, Hannah made her third attempt for a world title against Sarah Curran, with the vacant IBO super-welterweight title at stake. The bout took place at the Lagoon Leisure Centre in Paisley, Scotland and Rankin scored a 10-round unanimous decision points victory to become Scotland's first ever female world champion.
Her reign, however, proved to be short-lived as she lost her title just five months later against Swedish fighter, Patricia Berghult, whilst in October 2020 she had a further setback after losing to her English rival, Savannah Marshall, suffering a 7th round stoppage while contesting the vacant WBO middleweight title.
Her next title fight came in November 2021 as she took on veteran boxer, Maria Lindberg, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England with Rankin winning a 10-round unanimous decision to claim the vacant WBA and IBO super welterweight titles.
On 13 May 2022, Hannah made history by becoming the first woman to headline a major card in Scotland. The fight was broadcast on Fightzone (2021) and took place at the Hydro arena in Glasgow in front of 4,500 fans as Rankin retained her WBA and IBO super-welterweight titles with a 10th-round KO over Mexican boxer, Alejandra Ayala. After the bout, Ayala was taken to hospital for emergency surgery due to injuries sustained during the contest.
Aside from sports, Hannah has a keen interest in music having learned to play the flute at school, later switching to the bassoon. As an accomplished bassoonist, she attended the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, and the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she earned a master's degree in 2016. Hannah continues her musical career alongside boxing, teaching music to children as well as performing in her quintet, Coriolis, at care homes and schools.
