A slipped disc tore Nina Meinke from her successful sporting career. After surviving surgery, the flyweight world champion is now regaining her courage in rehab.
Nina Meinke (20-3, 4 knockouts) is recovering from an emergency operation on her spine. Nevertheless, the reigning IBF featherweight title holder is continuing her comeback outside the ring. Meinke suffered a herniated disc that severely restricted her mobility – with the risk of permanent damage to her right leg.
Health at risk
When the Berlin native underwent surgery, things were not looking good for her boxing career. The chances of a full recovery were only 20 percent. But according to her fight name “The Brave”, Nina Meinke is a real fighter. Her goal is not only to make a full recovery, but also to return to the ring.
“Over the last ten weeks, she has been recovering from her slipped disc,” Meinke told “Boxingscene”. “It was definitely a shock – especially because I didn’t know if I would be able to move like I did before.” But that didn’t stop her from concentrating fully on her rehab.
Last triumph against Bermudez
Meinke, the “Boxer of the Year 2024”, last fought on May 10, when she triumphed again over Daniela Bermudez with a unanimous points victory in Rostock. This victory came eight months after she defeated Bermudez by majority decision on September 21 in Hamburg to win the vacant IBF featherweight belt. Both fights went over twelve rounds of three minutes each, in contrast to the ten-round duels of two minutes that are normally scheduled for title fights in women’s boxing.
The IBF champion from Germany had already committed to fight Amanda Serrano in March 2024 in Puerto Rico over the men’s number of rounds. The fight was ultimately canceled by Serrano at the last minute. The reason given was that she had suffered an injury. The multiple world champion claimed to have suffered corneal damage from a hair chemical that had dripped into her eye.
“Worst pain of my life”
Serrano remains the WBA and WBO title holder, but agreed to relinquish her IBF belt. This allowed Meinke to fight for it as a mandatory challenger. With her first victory over Bermudez, she fulfilled her career dream of winning a world title with one of the four major world federations at the second attempt. The 32-year-old had previously narrowly failed in a title fight against the then unbeaten IBF contender Sarah Mahfoud in April 2022.
Shortly after the second Bermudez fight, Nina was in pain but was unsure of the cause. Doctors then advised her to undergo emergency surgery to avoid permanent paralysis. “I know a lot of people were wondering why I suddenly disappeared from the scene,” the featherweight from the P2M stable in Hamburg told her fans on social media. “The truth is, I was in the worst pain of my life. It was a total shock when I found out I had to have surgery immediately – and the chances of a full recovery were only 20 percent.”
“Coming back even stronger”
This shock diagnosis hit her like a bolt of lightning. “I was in the middle of planning a big new project and talking about future fights when I got the news,” reports Nina. Her only goal now is to “get back to life step by step and hopefully get back in the ring”.
As has been the case so far in her career, Nina Meinke is not letting it get her down. The IBF world champion has recently invested a lot of time in medical exercises and physiotherapy. And emphasizes: “I’m just starting to train again to come back stronger and defend my title.”
Text: Frank Schwantes
You can read more about Nina Meinke’s career in the BOXSPORT special we dedicated to “The Brave”. Now available in the BOXSPORT app! Click here to subscribe!