Ramla Ali won her first world titles at the age of 36, beating Mikiah Kreps by split decision in a hard-fought contest at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, on Sunday 8 November. The victory gave the London-based fighter the vacant WBO and IBF super-bantamweight titles.

A controversial verdict

Ali started sharply, knocking Kreps down with a right hook in the third round, but the American came back strongly and the two traded punches until the final bell. Two judges scored the ten-round fight for Ali, 97-92 and 96-93, while the third judge scored it widely for Kreps, 98-91. The split verdict drew a public challenge from Kreps’s promoter, Lou DiBella, who called for an inquiry into the scoring.

A landmark win

Ali, who was born in Somalia and is the first boxer to have represented the country at the Olympic Games, now holds a professional record of 12 wins and two defeats. Kreps, who had been unbeaten, falls to 11 wins and one defeat. The fight was the co-main event on the Most Valuable Promotions card in Arlington, where Alycia Baumgardner won every round on all three scorecards against Elif Nur Turhan to take the IBF lightweight title and become a two-division world champion. Sources: Sky Sports and Middle Easy.