History-Maker Ramla Ali Breaks New Ground In Saudi
Ramla Ali creates history. It’s just part of her routine. The unbeaten featherweight, who is 32 years old and will compete in Tokyo 2020, is the first Somali boxer to ever compete in the Olympics.
In October of 2020, when Ali made the transition into the paid ranks of boxing, she made history by being the first female Somali fighter to turn professional.
Now, the activist, model, and boxer is getting ready to take part in the very first women’s boxing bout that will ever take place in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. When she fights Crystal Garcia Nova, a previous world title challenger, on the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk’s rematch with Anthony Joshua, she will once again be breaking new ground.
Ali is well aware of the significance of this journey; in an interview with Sky Sports, the undefeated boxer stated, “We will cement our names and it will be there forever,” and added, “I know along the way we’ll be inspiring so many young girls and women to take up the sport of boxing as well as take up sport in general.”
Wrestling
In a country like Saudi Arabia, taking such a step is not a little thing at all. The country is notorious for its discrimination against women and only recently started allowing girls to partake in sports. In 2019, Natalya and Lacey Evans competed in the very first ever women’s wrestling match to be held in the country. The match was hosted by WWE and included both competitors.
Ali will contribute what she can to ensure that women in Saudi Arabia have access to opportunities to compete in sports and that these opportunities are visible to them.
She will be teaching a boxing lesson in the country, which is anticipated to be attended by thirty to forty other females in total. Ali, who places social justice at the center of much of what she does in and out of the ring, has made this step, which is just the latest example of her progressive and forward-thinking behaviour.
Ali established a nonprofit organisation that is now known as The Sisters Club. This organisation teaches young Muslim women how to box and offers self-defense lessons to individuals who have been the victims of sexual assault.
She donated twenty-five percent of her salary from her first year as a professional to the Black Lives Matter organization. As a child, the celebrity made their way out of Mogadishu before the outbreak of the Somali Civil War. Her younger brother was only 12 years old when he was struck and killed by a shell. Ramla Ali has walked the path of adversity and, ever since then, has devoted herself to making the world a better place via her diligent labour.
Ali has been successful in the modeling industry in addition to her career in the ring and her work with humanitarian organisations. The Somali sensation has been featured on the cover of many different worldwide publications, including British Vogue, ELLE, Wonderland, and Grazia, amongst many others. One of the modern sports of boxing’s renaissance fighters has added another string to his bow.
Ali will soon be fighting in front of her most significant worldwide audience yet, and the stage is now set for it.
On the undercard of the heavyweight world title, she takes part in a bout that will go down in the annals of boxing history. This is the zenith of a career that has been well-earned by one of the most fascinating, talented, and caring people in boxing.