Ramla Ali registers brutal KO in history-making fight on Anthony Joshua undercard | Boxing | Sport
Ramla Ali recorded a blistering knockout in her sixth professional outing against Crystal Garcia Nova on the Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk II undercard. The fight marked the first female fight in Saudi Arabia as both women made history in Jeddah.
The Somali-born Brit landed a huge overhand right in the opening seconds that scrambled her adversaries senses before following it up with a body shot to send Nova to the canvas. Nova quickly took a knee but was counted out and looked visibly shaken.
Ali has now recorded the second stoppage of her professional career, following up her second-round knockout of Shelly Barnett in March at the Galen Centre, Los Angeles. She will now target sterner tests and spoke repeatedly about a world title shot with promoter Eddie Hearn in the lead-up to this fight.
In her division — featherweight — Erika Cruz holds the WBA, Amanda Serrano the WBO and WBC while Sarah Mahfoud is the IBF champion.
In the amateurs, Ali won the 2015 Novice English ABA’s, the 2016 England Boxing Elite National Championships, the 2016 Great British Championships, and the 2019 African Zone featherweight title. Now, she will now be hoping to replicate those successes as a professional and join the likes of Savannah Marshall and Natasha Jonas in becoming a British female world champion.
