Tiny Tina und ihr Talent
Tina Rupprecht aka Tiny Tina - professional boxer
Rupprecht started kickboxing at the age of twelve, switched to boxing at 14 and became German youth champion in paperweight for the first time in 2009. Since then, she has not only been fighting for the coveted world championship belt, but also against the gender pay gap compared to men. While professional boxers earn millions, women have to make do with five-figure sums.
Delicate footwork, muscular upper arms, hands clenched into fists, aggressive - this is what Tina Rupprecht looks like in competition, better known by the nickname "Tiny Tina", as she is no taller than a dainty 1.53 metres. But if you saw her outside the ring in private, you would hardly conclude that her greatest passion is the boxing ring: petite, blonde, small in stature and nothing at all tomboyish about her. Boxing is clichédly attributed to the world of men. But Tina is the perfect counter-example to the fact that this sport is not just a male domain. Tina also describes herself as a very balanced, harmony-loving person. In other words, the complete opposite of the characteristics you would associate with her in the ring. She also pursues a traditional profession, as the Augsburg native is a teacher. From 2012 to 2018, she studied to become a teacher for secondary schools with sport as her main subject at the University of Augsburg alongside boxing. She then decided to focus entirely on her sport. The professional boxer lives and trains in her hometown of Augsburg.
Tina's talent and how she got her nickname
The Augsburg native first came into contact with this rather unusual sport in her early teens. More precisely: at the age of twelve, when she accompanied a friend to kickboxing. But Tina knew immediately that this sport was hers - love at first "kick", so to speak. After just under a year and a half, Tina switched to classic boxing at the Haan Boxing Club, to which she has remained loyal to this day. She turned out to be a disciplined athlete who puts her heart and soul into her work. In 2013, after disputes with the German Boxing Association, the Augsburg native switched to the professional league with a respectable record of 30 wins, just five defeats and one draw.
Tina got her nickname by chance at a convention in Azerbaijan, which the Haan Boxing Club attended in 2017. An American boxer there only ever called her "Tiny Tina" due to her small stature. But the title says it all and "Tiny" is her middle name, even if she is really tall in the ring. All beginnings are hard: Tina sacrificed every free minute of her free time for her sporting passion as well as her savings to be able to finance the competitions in the first place. A time that put her to the test as to how serious she was about her sporting career on the side. During this time, Tiny Tina even struggled with herself and toyed with the idea of turning her back on boxing altogether. However, her trainer Alexander Haan managed to convince her to stick with it for another year and not give up. "He was probably already looking to the future back then," jokes Tina Rupprecht in the interview. And in fact, within that one magical year, her sporting career took off alongside her studies - that was in 2015. After Tina literally "fought her way back" and completed a few smaller competitions. In 2016, the athlete first secured the WBC Silver Female title in the minimum weight category (up to 44.6 kg) and a year later, in May 2017, she won the Intercontinental Championships against a Venezuelan.
The first "real" title and title defence
A short time later, the title was within her grasp! The mega opportunity to finally win the WBC internationally had arrived. The previously reigning world champion Momo Koseki ended her career in 2018, so Tina's opponent for this fight was now Yokasta Valle from Costa Rica. The fight took place on 16 June 2018 in Germany (Unterschleißheim) and the venue was sold out to the last seat. In the end, the fighter from Augsburg won the WBC minimumweight title.
Three years later, a unification fight was scheduled for 2021, also against the Costa Rican Valle. The IBO world championship was also to be awarded to the winner. The mega-fight was cancelled without further ado by her opponent's management. A "slap in the face", as Tina had been looking forward to this day for months, had completed over 50 sparring sessions and was in top fighting form. The reason for the cancellation? It never came, at least not in person. In the end, she found out through the Costa Rican media: the IBF world champion would first have to fight a mandatory defence against another opponent from Japan. Tina and her team did not take this at face value. "A cheap excuse," replied Rupprecht. According to the official IBF rules, such fights always take a back seat. Thankfully an isolated case.
In 2022, the fighter from Augsburg fought Rocio Gaspar from Peru; many of her opponents come from South America, as the sport is particularly popular with women. Tina also clearly won this fight and thus retained the WBC title. On 25 March 2023, she lost the fight in Fresno against US-American Seniesa Estrada, but she regained the title the following year, albeit in a different weight class than before, the atomweight (1).
Injuries included
Sometimes the biggest pain comes after the fight. Like in December 2019, just before Christmas: Tina Rupprecht has just won a fight in Hamburg and has a laceration on her head. She goes into the changing room and a paramedic is already waiting for her with a needle and thread to stitch up the wound. Six stitches, right at the hairline. Without anaesthetic. That's just part of boxing.
The professional boxer had her most recent fight on 24 November 2024: Tina (32) stood in the ring that Sunday in a unification fight against Eri Matsuda (30) from Japan with the prospect of the WBC, WBO and WBA world titles. In a fabulous fight, she managed to secure this title in the atomweight division like no other in the German boxing scene - neither Max Schmeling nor Henry Maske. And on top of that, she was awarded the belt of the boxing magazine "The Ring". This is only awarded if, according to experts, it is a fight with the two best boxers in the world - these conditions were met here. The last time this title was awarded was in 1930, 94 years ago, to the German boxer Max Schmeling. After the brilliant victory, the woman from Augsburg struggled for words:
"I'm speechless. History. The tension is now gone and the dream has come true"
The road to today has not always been easy. But Tina is grateful for every experience in her career and would not be who she is today. In her eyes, you never stop learning and she would still go down this path, which was often steep, again and again. Boxing is a personal development programme. The ambitious sportswoman is already looking forward to every new challenge that awaits her.
"This feeling is simply indescribable, nobody can take it away from you! I came home totally flashed and overjoyed to have finally achieved what I've been fighting for for so long!"
(1) In this weight class you have to be another 1.5kg lighter than the minimum weight.

