(APRIL 10) Tina “Tiny Tina” Rupprecht of Germany defeated Sumire Yamanaka of Japan by majority decision in a fight between the top two atomweights for supremacy in the division. Yamanaka held the IBF title in that weight class, so Rupprecht added that title to her other three titles from the WBC, WBA, and WBO. The fight was the main event on a fight card at the MBS Arena in Potsdam, Germany. SES Boxing was the promoter and the fight was broadcast by MDR on Saturday, April 5th.

At 32 years of age, Rupprecht had more ring experience than Yamanaka at the professional level. Rupprecht defeated former WBO and WBA atomweight champion Eri Matsuda of Japan by a somewhat close unanimous decision in November 2024. Yamanaka’s previous fight was in January 2024 against Mika Iwakawa of Japan by unanimous decision in a successful defense of the IBF atomweight title. Yamanaka is 23 years of age and uses a southpaw stance whereas Rupprecht is orthodox. Rupprecht is a few inches taller at 5’0” compared to Yamanaka’s height of 4’9½”.

There were obvious advantages for Rupprecht in her fight against Yamanaka. The fight was in Rupprecht’s home country of Germany and two of the three judges were from Germany. Rupprecht also had the recent experience of fighting and winning against Matsuda who is still one of the best atomweights in the world. Yamanaka had been inactive for over one year, but only a few months more than a year. There was one advantage for Yamanaka and this was probably negotiated beforehand. Both Rupprecht and Yamanaka were wearing Winning gloves which is a brand of boxing gloves made in Japan. Japanese boxers usually wear them, although boxers from other countries also use them because of their high quality. Boxers may prefer a brand of gloves because they like the way the gloves fit on their hands. It is probable that Rupprecht sparred and trained with Winning gloves to get used to them in preparation for this fight.

Olena Pubyvailo of Belgium was the only judge not from Germany. Both Karoline Puetz and Susann Kopke were the two judges from Germany. Yamanaka wore red Winning gloves and Rupprecht wore blue Winning gloves. Rupprecht built an early lead by arguably winning the first four rounds. The tide turned in the fifth round for Yamanaka and she probably won rounds five, six, and seven. Rupprecht came back in round eight and likely won that round. Yamanaka appeared to win round nine. Yamanaka landed a punch to the head of Rupprecht who then fell to the canvas, but the referee ruled that it was a slip. Round ten was a very close round, but I unofficially scored it in favor of Yamanaka. On my unofficial scorecard, I had Rupprecht winning rounds 1-4 and round 8. I had Yamanaka winning rounds 5-7 and rounds 9-10. Therefore, each boxer won five rounds on my unofficial scorecard which meant that I scored it a draw by a score of 95-95.

The total judges’ scores were 99-91, 96-95, and 95-95 in favor of Rupprecht by majority decision. Rupprecht improves her record to 15-1-1, 3 KOs whereas Yamanaka has her first defeat and is now 8-1, 3 KOs. Susann Kopke of Germany scored it 99-91. This is an absurd and ridiculous score. Olena Pubyvailo of Belgium scored it 95-95 which is how I scored it in total. Karoline Puetz of Germany scored it 96-95.Puetz likely scored one of the rounds as a 10-10 tie. I believe that Puetz scored the tenth and final round even. Judges do not often score rounds even because it makes the judge appear to not be able to decide who won the round. It is allowed to be used, but it should only be used rarely. However, German judges have been known to score rounds as ties when it is beneficial for a German boxer fighting a boxer who is not from Germany. I do not know if that is the case here. On my unofficial scorecard, I would have scored the fight 96-95 (same score as from the judge Puetz) if I scored the tenth and final round 10-10 instead of 10-9 in favor of Yamanaka. That is one reason why I believe Puetz scored the tenth round 10-10, but it was a very close round.

Congratulations to Rupprecht for becoming the undisputed atomweight champion of the world. Regardless of the judges’ scores, this fight was a great example of what women’s boxing can be at the highest level. However, it would have been more equitable if one of the judges was from Japan and one from Germany instead of two judges from Germany. Yamanaka appears to have a bright future, especially being 23 years of age with more time to improve. The atomweight division has other talented boxers besides Rupprecht, Yamanaka, and Matsuda. Nao Ugawa of Japan is an undefeated contender who holds the WBO Asia Pacific atomweight title. Esneidy Rodriguez Olmos of Mexico is also an undefeated contender who holds the WBC Silver atomweight title.

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