BBC Online :
Thunderous chants of “Ali, Ali, Ali” from a boisterous crowd reverberated around the O2 Arena when Ramla Ali continued her unbeaten professional boxing career last month.
It was a sight, and sound, to behold.
“The amazing thing about the Somali community is that they back each other – they back their own,” Ali tells BBC Sport.
“I only had to put out the flyer and within 72 hours I’d sold 500 tickets. It was insane.”
The 32-year-old is still a novice professional, but her huge following is testament to her achievements both in and outside the sport.
Ali’s journey has taken her from a child refugee who fled war-torn Somalia to becoming the first Muslim fighter to win an English title as an amateur.
She is an Olympian, activist, author and successful model who was handpicked by Meghan Markle to be on the cover of Vogue. Her backstory is not just worthy of a feature film – the biopic is already in production.
This week in Jeddah, Ali will make history once more when she features on the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk v Anthony Joshua in the first professional female bout to take place in Saudi Arabia.
“It’s a huge honour,” she says. “This is a one-time thing. No-one else will be the first, and for myself and for my opponent, both our names will be cemented in history. It’s an incredible feeling.”
Ali’s decision to fight in Saudi Arabia has drawn criticism, with some social media followers citing the country’s poor human rights records and treatment of women.
“There will be some mean comments,” Ali says. “They have already begun. Why would you choose to box in Saudi Arabia? They violate women’s rights, etc.”
Saudi Arabia has faced accusations of human rights violations and is currently launching a military operation in Yemen that has caused a humanitarian crisis.
The Kingdom has spent billions to bring elite sport to its country, which critics have labelled as ‘sportswashing’.
“Riyadh’s calculation is that sport is going to gradually relax people talking about executions, jailing, murdering of journalists and bombing in Yemen as the big story about Saudi Arabia,” Felix Jakens, a spokesperson for Amnesty UK, told BBC Sport.
Ali’s long list of charity work includes setting up The Sisters Club – an organisation which teaches Muslim women, minorities and those who have suffered domestic or sexual violence how to box.
