Ramla Ali becomes a world champion at 36 with a split decision in Texas, but the win over Mikiah Kreps has fans arguing over who really won.
A Somali daughter of the diaspora now sits on top of the boxing world. Ramla Ali, the British-Somali fighter who made history as the first boxer to represent Somalia at the Olympics, is a world champion at 36. She took the vacant WBO and IBF women's junior featherweight titles in Arlington, Texas.
It is a journey few could script. Ali fled Somalia's civil war with her family and grew up in east London. She turned that path into Olympic history and finally into world-title gold. The 122lb crown came at College Park Center on her second attempt at a world championship, and it lands as a landmark moment for African and diaspora fighters everywhere.
The manner of the win is what has people talking. Ali beat former sparring partner Mikiah Kreps over 10 rounds by split decision, and the verdict was highly controversial. Many watching felt Kreps controlled most of the fight, so the result left plenty of ringside and online debate about whether the judges got it right.
Controversy or not, the belts are around Ali's waist and the record books now read world champion next to her name. For young Somali girls and African boxers in the diaspora who have never seen themselves at the top of this sport, that matters. Expect calls for Kreps to get a rematch, and expect Ali to carry the continent's flag into whatever comes next.
