“Tiny Tina” triumphs
Germany's “Tiny” Tina Rupprecht (13-1-1, 3KO) won the WBC world atomweight title by defeating the former Czech world champion Fabiana Bytyqi (20-1-2, 5KO) by unanimous decision, on Saturday, January 13, at the Verti Music Hall from Berlin.
After 10 rounds of hard hitting and intense action, the victory was clearly Rupprecht's with decisive scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 97-93 on the Judges’ cards.
For many years, 31-year-old Tina was the WBC strawweight world champion, now she has slimmed down a division to compete again for another world title, becoming a world champion in two divisions.
Fabiana Bytyqi was undefeated in 22 fights. She had size advantages that Tina was able to overcome her with intense boxing style, always applying pressure.
With this victory, Rupprecht improved her record to 13-1-1, with 3 knockouts, while Bytyqi is now 20-1-2, 5 knockouts.
Rupprecht started her combat career as a kickboxer then switched to boxinng aged 14. She won the German Junior Amateur Championships two years in a row between 2009-2010; then she won the German Amateur Championships in 2011 and 2013, as well as the Bavarian Championships in 2012 and 2013. She left the amateurs behind with a record of 30-5-1.
She turned pro on December 7 2013, winning in just 50 seconds time. Her first three fights all ended via first-round KO. She won the WBC Silver strawweight title in just her fourth fight, then the IBO Inter-Continental in her fifth, then the EBC Interim belt in her sixth. In fight nine, she became the WBC world strawweight champion, defending the title five times until her unification clash with WBA champ Seniesa Estrada in March 2023 in California, which she lost by decision.
The German talent is now rated No.1 at atomweight.