Ramla Ali settled in London as a refugee after fleeing Somalia’s civil war with her family and was the first Somali boxer to compete at the Olympic Games.
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| Ramla Ali celebrates winning a fight at King Abdullah Sports City Arena, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, August 20, 2022. |
ARLINGTON, Texas
British-Somali boxer Ramla Ali captured her first world title at the age of 37 with a split-decision victory over American Mikiah Kreps to claim the vacant WBO and IBF junior featherweight belts on Sunday in Arlington, Texas.
Ali secured the win despite being outlanded 115-78 overall and trailing 91-70 in power punches, with Kreps landing more shots in 8 of the 10 rounds
Ali knocked Kreps down in the third round with a right hook but was forced onto the back foot thereafter as the American responded strongly
The judges were split, however, with two scoring the bout 97-92 and 96-93 for Ali to hand her the world titles despite the third judge scoring the bout 98-91 for Kreps
Ali settled in London as a refugee after fleeing Somalia’s civil war with her family and was the first Somali boxer to compete at the Olympic Games, representing Somalia at Tokyo 2020. She later became the first Muslim woman to win an English amateur boxing title.
The world title winner was emotional after her victory.
“When we were in the changing room, my coach said, because my dad passed away in May, ‘Do this for him’,” Ali said.
“That’s where those emotions came out at the end, because I did it for my dad.”
“I can’t put into words what this means to me and what this means to all of Somalia,” she added.
“I’ve hopefully inspired so many young girls and boys out there to dream big and that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”
