Alesia Graf is dead. The boxing world champion died unexpectedly at the age of just 43. Nothing is yet known about the circumstances of her death. Graf’s good friend Regina Halmich (47) is now publicly mourning her training partner. The multiple world champion posted a picture together on Instagram that was taken at the after-show party of the Radio Regenbogen Awards in 2014.

“I am shocked and stunned,” wrote Regina Halmich about the picture. “You were not only a training partner and world champion, but also a friend,” the athlete continued, “43 years old – far too young to leave – I don’t understand it. What sad news. RIP Alesia.”

Halmich could tell many stories about Alesia Graf, “what made you stand out and how special you were,” but she doesn’t feel able to do that yet.

Regina Halmich told the “Bild” newspaper that she remembered her “great time together” with her deceased colleague: “Two women in a boxing domain among men. We trained together, laughed together and did a lot outside of training.”

Alesia Graf was born as Alessja Klimowitsch on October 14, 1980 in Gomel in the then Soviet Republic of Belarus. She came to Germany in 1999 and took the name Graf when she married. In the boxing ring she was known as “The Tigress.” In the super bantam weight class she was world champion for several associations.