I’m not sure it happens often, maybe once or twice when entering a sport with such good margins and struggling to succeed, but one boxer has worked with Social boxing since her early days in a gymnasium complex Gym Box – struggling to be seen as a serious prospect fighting in hotel shows or soon on small hall cards – is causing attention for her country’s biggest boxing venue as the reigning, reigning world champion.
Equal Hannah Rankin (11-5, 2KOs), WBA and IBO superweight champion, returns to her home base in London after a brief visit north to announce her first defense at SSE Hydro Arena in Glasgow, she reflects on moments that now feel so far away…
She said a visit to Farringdon Boxin, when she was working with Noel Callan and filming ‘calling interviews’ called Claressa Shields the desired opponent, a great boxer and impossible champion controversy that she called friends after this match in the United States. . Shield proved too skilled and too seasoned; Rankin appeared undaunted. There was a sit-down session at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow as Rankin and her longtime coach and confidant, Noel Callan, trained for her battle with Savannah Marshall – a setback and a rare defeat. over there.
What about my own taxi ride back to Paisley’s Lagoon Center, I recall, just as Rankin started walking and lifted her IBO world title for the first time, beating Sarah French in a tough match unexpected. The beginning of a brief reign as champion was never fully recognized, holding a belt that was often looked down upon and disrespected. There was a sense of pride that night, watching Rankin deliver on what she had promised years ago.
However, we are here now. And Glasgow’s SSE Hydro was the venue where Rankin defended her newly won WBA – and IBO – world title, against Alejandra Ayala, a tenacious Mexican with a point to prove. The photo shoot from today’s announcement and press conference shows Rankin, now with much more business-like short hair, looking and posing comfortably, raising her belt in front of the giant, western-style venue alien transportation. Callan was also unharmed. They knew – and they told me time and time again – that this was going to happen. They said, and I sometimes listened with fidelity and support like a friend, it was difficult to predict the success of a champion.
“I talked to Dennis [Hobson] and Sam [Kynoch]”, explained Rankin,” And the whole team said, ‘We’d like to host your first event in Scotland in front of a big home audience,’ and I said, “I’d love to take the chance. If it could happen, that would be amazing.’ When they gave me the chance for the world title, they also tried to get this opportunity. Originally, it was going to be at Braehead Arena, where it’s going to be. I’m also really excited because obviously some of Scotland’s best boxers have boxed there before and they haven’t boxed in a short time so it would be nice to go back there. , and also the first woman to appear in the headlines there”.
“However, a better opportunity came and the chance to fight in Hydro came and it was crazy, when I did the Sky Sports commentary, I said, ‘I’d love to…’ Josh was fighting and I said, ‘Oh my God, one day I’d love to have the chance to fight here.’ I think it’s on any Scottish boxer’s bucket list to be on this card at Hydro. And then they turned around and said, ‘Yeah, we’d love to move the fight. It’s going to be two weeks later, so don’t get too mad, but in a better location, so we think it’ll balance out and you won’t be overdone. ‘ So to actually fight a Mexican, I wanted to tick that off the bucket list as well. People used to call me a Scots Mexican, so I always wanted to fight one myself, you know. ”
A massive unification game against Liverpool’s Natasha Jonas has been on the upswing since the latter won the WBO world title, beating former Rankin partner Chris Namus from pillar to post in Manchester. Currently, boxer Luss is enjoying his world champion status and is only focusing on Ayala. That’s not to say she ignores or shrinks from Jonas, that’s not how Rankin works. Win or lose, she fights the best. No one expected much of a classically trained musician who turned to boxing for strength training and initially embarked on what should have been a brief White Collar career. Everything changes – especially in our sport.
“I used to actually work at 24-person bars in SECC (the city’s biggest venue before Hydro was built); I worked all the big, live concerts. It’s a trash job. It’s always hordes of completely drunk people, trying to get them drinks and never fast enough. And then it’s just, you’ve had all the beer, and you never get to see the main events. And I laughed because obviously in my boxing career things only gradually improved as I went through, such as the locations… I started. [fighting] in a Southend nightclub. I finally got to boxing at Crowne Plaza for the first time when I boxed at home in Scotland and now, nearby, it’s clear that it’s Hydro and I’ll be there. ”
She will be there; she will be noticed. It’s Hannah Rankin’s name at the top of the poster; that’s the peasant girl sitting front and center of Fightzone’s press conference. She made it. And considering her journey so far, and the time spent learning the intricacies of professional boxing, considering the sacrifices and self-regain after going through five defeats, that’s pretty cool. remarkable.
You can’t pick your friends in the sport of boxing because the fights usually end before they start and it takes the fighters a while to face tough opponents. Rankin is the exception. It is not to support a boxer; it’s about supporting a deserving good person with everything going on in front of you. As guilty as chargedI guess.
