Meet Natalie Zimmermann, the German challenger to Terri Harper’s WBO lightweight title

As Terri Harper prepares to defend her WBO world title this weekend, who is her opponent Natalie Zimmermann?

Rejected by Team GB in 2012, Harper is now one of Britain’s brightest sporting talents

Terri Harper will defend her WBO lightweight title on Friday against Natalie Zimmermann in Doncaster.

This will be a homecoming for Harper who has not fought in Doncaster since 2018 when her career was in its infancy. She will face combat sports veteran Natalie Zimmermann, who will be hoping to claim her first recognised world title.

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Zimmermann has had a long multi-disciplinary career and will be looking to add a professional boxing title to her list of accolades.

Who is Natalie Zimmermann? DAZN news has what you need to know…

Record

Total fights: 13

Wins: 13 (3 KOs)

Losses: 0

Rounds: 67

Height: 5’ 6”

Age: 42

Background

Boxing was not the first choice of Zimmermann, who spent the first ten years of her combat sports career in taekwondo before moving to kickboxing. It was in the latter that she would have her first taste of success. She credits watching the film ‘G.I Jane’, starring Demi Moore for inspiring her to take up marital arts whilst training to become a physiotherapist.

As a kickboxer, she won three consecutive German national championships from 2017-2019 and registered over 100 wins.

Then at 38-years-old, Zimmermann made the move into professional boxing, debuting in 2020. Since then, she has put together an impressive thirteen fight unbeaten run to land a shot at Harper’s WBO title.

She has also held the unrecognised WIBF title, claiming it in 2023 by beating Edina Kiss via unanimous decision in Germany.

Fighting, however, is not Zimmermann’s only passion, as alongside her professional boxing career she also runs a physiotherapy practice in Hamburg where she trains under Andre Walther and former world champion Artur Grigorian.

This fight with the Doncaster native will be Zimmermann’s first outside of continental Europe. She has fought primarily out of Germany and her two most recent fights against Orsolya Moldovan and Katerina Dvorakova were in Spain.

Now 42-years-old, the German will face her first opponent with a winning record, but as someone who has taken a path against the grain to get to boxing, she will be hoping to upset the odds one more time and dethrone Harper in her hometown.

Zimmermann said to Boxen1: "My thanks go to GBM Sports, for giving me this world championship chance. It has always been my dream to prove myself against fighters like Terri and showcase my skills. My coach and I will be developing strategies for the fight. There will certainly be some surprises for my opponent.”

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