Ramala Ali of Somalia on Saturday made history by winning the first women’s boxing bout in Saudi Arabia. The 32-year-old defeated Dominican Republic’s Crystal García Nova in just over a minute in the Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk undercard. 

Ali took 65 seconds to knock down her opponent in the super-bantamweight clash. After forcing García Nova on the backfoot, the Somalia-based boxer unleashed a twisting right-hand shot to the side of the face. 

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“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 sai. She has now extended her professional record to seven successive wins.

Ramala Ali further defended Saudi Arabia’s human rights record. 

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Ali said, “I feel that the way the media is portraying Saudi Arabia is not quite right. 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. And the fact that they promote women’s sports here and have admitted two girls here for the first time shows how progressive the country is becoming.”

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Who is Ramala Ali?

Born in Somalia, Ali and her family moved to England when she was a child. She took up the sport to lose weight. 

However, soon, the 32-year-old won the 2015 Novice national championships in England, the 2016 England Boxing Elite National Championships, the 2016 Great British Championships, and the 2019 African Zone featherweight title.

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Ali was the first person from Somalia to win an African boxing title and international gold medals. In 2021, she competed in the women’s featherweight event at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She was the first to represent Somalia on the Olympic stage.  

She has also done modelling. Ramala Ali has appeared on the front cover of British Vogue, Grazia,Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Guardian Observer and many other magazines.