Ali won her first world titles by a 10-round split decision in Arlington, Texas. Al Jazeera identifies the vacant belts as IBO and WBF, rather than the WBO and IBF titles named in the earlier Guardian report.
British-Somali boxer Ramla Ali won her first world championships on Sunday, defeating former sparring partner Mikiah Kreps by split decision at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas. Al Jazeera identifies the vacant women’s junior featherweight belts in the 122-pound division as IBO and WBF, rather than the WBO and IBF belts named in the earlier Guardian report.
Ali, 36, succeeded on her second world-title attempt. Her first ended in a unanimous-decision loss after 10 rounds to WBC junior featherweight champion Yamileth Mercado on 29 June 2024, in Phoenix, Arizona. In that bout, all the judges favored Mercado; this time, the judges were divided.
Ali scored a third-round knockdown when a right hook landed on Kreps’s chin and Kreps touched the canvas with her glove. The American, 30, then increased her punching volume and applied sustained pressure that disrupted Ali’s rhythm. The Guardian judged that Kreps appeared to win most of the remaining rounds.
After the scheduled distance, two judges favored Ali and one favored Kreps, producing the split decision.
| Judge’s choice | Score |
|---|---|
| Ali | 97-92 |
| Ali | 96-93 |
| Kreps | 98-91 |
CompuBox figures published by the Guardian show Kreps landed more punches in eight of the 10 rounds. Power punches, in these statistics, are punches other than jabs.
| Measure | Ali | Kreps |
|---|---|---|
Alycia Baumgardner won a unanimous decision over Elif Nur Turhan after moving up from junior lightweight, becoming a world champion in a second weight division.
The Guardian’s own scorecard favored Kreps by the same margin as the first official card listed above, but for the opposite winner. The newspaper argued that the punch figures cast further doubt on the verdict. Those assessments are separate from the official result.
| Boxer | Wins–losses | Knockouts |
|---|---|---|
| Ali | 12-2 | 3 |
| Kreps | 11-1 | 3 |
The result was Kreps’s first professional defeat.
Ali grew up in east London after her family fled Somalia’s civil war. She later became the first boxer to represent Somalia at the Olympics. After winning, she said she could not put into words what the victory meant to her and to Somalia, and hoped she had inspired young girls and boys to dream big.
Ali said her father had died in May and her coach had urged her before the fight to do it for him. She attributed her emotional reaction afterward to having done that. She also praised Kreps’s work rate, saying she had repeatedly told her corner she was tired.
Promoter Lou DiBella disputed the verdict on social media, saying Kreps had won and the fight was not close. He said he was appalled by the decision. The Guardian said DiBella called for an investigation into the scoring.
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Garcia knocked Delgado down in the sixth round, and all three judges scored the fight 97–92 for the Mexican, who retained the IBF belt and took the WBA title.
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The women’s regular title remains vacant after judges scored the bout 97-93 for Sims, 100-90 for Patricio and 95-95.
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Update ·
The belt identification is corrected to IBO and WBF, while the split-decision result remains unchanged.
