It used to be said that the hands of a person dedicated to the art of music were fragile hands. Well, the new 154-pound World Boxing Association champion, Hannah Rankin, has shown us otherwise. 

She was born in the picturesque and tiny village of Luss on the shores of Loch Lomond, where there is nature all around. A mystical space that may have been an inspiration for the 31-year-old Hannah Rankin, who grew up there. 

As a child, she had a great desire to learn and contact sports caught her attention. So it was that at the age of 9 she took up Taekwondo. But body skills were not the only thing that caught her attention. She also felt the vibration of the rhythmic sound in her chest: at school she started with the flute and then moved on to the bassoon. Wind instruments became his passion. 

She got involved in boxing for the first time just for the pleasure of staying physically active. But almost unintentionally, putting on the gloves led her to embark on a new path. Step by step she decided to take more seriously the idea of converting to the religion of the flat noses. Ah, but the first thing she made clear to the coach was “take care of my hands. I have a musical career”. Since then, she has led a double life, learning the balance has allowed her to be a boxer and a musician. 

In the early professional days she was nicknamed “Musical Warrior”; a combination of passions in two words. In June 2019 she became the first Scottish world champion. That feat she dedicated to her mother, who had passed away six years earlier due to cancer. Rankin said in an interview how boxing had helped her cope with her grief. 

Currently she is active, as she has been for several years, teaching music to children in schools and as part of the Coriolis quintet with whom she gives concerts in old people’s homes and schools.

The “Musical Warrior” began to sing a sweet and powerful melody when last Friday she was crowned champion again in the super welterweight division with the black and gold belt of the pioneer organization.