Watch: Ramala Ali’s twisting right-hand shot to knock out Crystal Garca Nova

Ramala Ali of Somalia on Saturday defeated Dominican Republic’s Crystal García Nova in the Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk undercard. The 32-year-old boxer was participating in the first women’s fight in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Ali attacked for the complete 65-second bout. She finished the match with a twisting right-hand shot to the side of the face, knocking the shield out of García Nova’s mouth.

Also read: Badou Jack vs Richard Rivera affected by flies, boxers struggle

Watch:

“I feel really good but I feel I need to go back and do some more pads … I didn’t really get out of first gear,”Ali said after the win. She has now extended her professional record to seven successive wins.

Also read: WNBA playoffs: Chicago Sky posts record rout of New York, forces Game 3

Several fans and Amnesty International UK’s head of priority campaigns Felix Jakens criticised Saudi Arabia’s human rights record. 

“Ramla Ali’s historic fight in Jeddah is clearly a significant personal achievement, but like the Joshua-Usyk match, this is primarily about sportswashing. In recent years, Saudi women brave enough to call for reform have been imprisoned, tortured and silenced. We wish Ramla Ali the best, but there is nothing even remotely progressive about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record,” Jakens said. 

Also read: Five players who scored most Premier League goals for a single club

Ali, responding to Jakens, defended Saudi Arabia. She claimed “the way the media portrays Saudi Arabia is not entirely accurate” and that “women are free to do whatever they want [in the kingdom].”

“When I came here, I expected to be covered, so when I went to the beach on Sunday, I went covered with leggings and a loose-fitting T-shirt. But everyone was in bikinis. Most women walking down the street don’t wear hijabs either,” the boxer said. 

Ali fled a war-torn Somalia, with her family, when she was a child. She settled in England. The boxer took up the sport to lose weight. However, soon, she was a winner of a host of titles including the 2016 Great British Championship. She also became the first ever Somalian – man or woman – to compete in boxing at the Olympics.