Ali Raymi (born Ali Ibrahim Ali Al-Raimi; ; 7 December 1973 – 23 May 2015) was a Yemeni professional boxer and military officer. In boxing he is best known for his fight record of 26 wins and no losses, with all 26 wins by knockout; 23 in the first round. On 17 July 2014, he set a new world record by winning his first 21 professional fights by first-round knockout. He won the International Boxing Institute (IBI) minimumweight title when he beat Prince Maz. Also that year, he won the Universal Boxing Organization (UBO) World Junior Flyweight title.boxrec.comhttps://www.uboboxing.com/articles/article333.htm
Raymi lived in Mecca, Saudi Arabia prior to 1991. He was killed in action by an explosion, possibly from a Qatari airstrike on Yemeni Republican Guard positions during the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in the Yemeni Civil War, on 23 May 2015 in Sana'a. He was ranked No. 6 by the World Boxing Association (WBA) at 108 pounds and No. 8 by the World Boxing Organization (WBO) at 105 pounds at the time of his death.https://web.archive.org/web/20150905211750/http://ringtv.craveonline.com/news/390403-mysterious-junior-flyweight-ali-raymi-killed-in-yemen
Personal life Raymi won a gold medal in Algeria for the Yemeni military, representing the amateur boxing team, his purported amateur record was 117–2, all by way of knockout, although there is no proof of this record.Ali Raymi wins Gold Medal in Algeria, Althawranews.net; accessed 22 August 2015. Stories of Raymi's life including his military career were released by his filmmaker manager Felix Arno in an interview with The Ring magazine managing editor Brian Harty.Profile , Craveonline.com; accessed 22 August 2015.
Boxing career Yemeni News archives show Raymi started boxing at the age of 30 representing the Yemeni military, compiling an amateur record of 117–2, winning all 117 by KO which many believe to be embellished. He was a Yemeni amateur champion in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. It was during this time that Raymi started breaking Yemeni cultural norms by challenging foreign fighters, and participating in private unsanctioned fights for the next three years. Raymi grew to have a reputation in Sana'a as a loose cannon.
Setting the World Record On 17 July 2014, he set a new world record by winning his first 21 professional fights by first-round knockout.
Prince Maz 2014 tetralogy Prince Maz was the first fighter to extend Ali Raymi outside the first round, repeating the feat in three out of four encounters RTD1, 2014-07-17 TKO7, 2014-08-30 RTD9, 2014-10-16 TKO2, 2014-11-19
Death Raymi, a Colonel in the Yemeni Anti-Terrorism forces, was killed in an explosion on 23 May 2015.
Postmortem ranking In December 2013, Raymi was ranked in the top ten by two major boxing sanctioning bodies:Ali Raymi rankings, Uk.eurosport.yahoo.com; accessed 22 August 2015. seventh by the WBORanking, wboboxing.com, November 2013. and ninth by the WBC.WBO Ratings, December 2013; accessed 22 August 2015. Additionally, the IBO had ranked him number one in August 2014, while the WBO improved his ranking to sixth in January 2015,Ranking, Wboboxing.com, January 2015. as did the WBA in May 2015.Ranking , wbanews.com; May 2015. Raymi also offered $100,000 to then-WBA and IBO strawweight champion Hekkie Budler for a fight in Yemen.Ali Raymi takes aim at Hekkie Budler , fightnews.com; accessed 8 November 2016. The WBA ranked Raymi as #6 light flyweight in April 2015 and only dropped him five ranking spots to eleventh place when he died.
Dan Rafael, senior boxing writer at ESPN, criticized the organization for the "utterly and absolutely indefensible" ranking situation. He explained, commenting that Raymi's record was "hollow... considering he fought absolutely nobody of remote recognition or accomplishment as he fashioned that glittering but meaningless mark..."Dan Rafael. "Why the WBA rankings are even worse than I thought, Espn.go.com; accessed 22 August 2015.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes26Win26–0Omar MoxamadKO1 (12)29 Apr 201525Win25–0Omar Moxamad KO1 (12), 28 Mar 201524Win24–0Prince MazTKO2 (12), 19 Nov 201423Win23–0Prince MazRTD9 (12), 16 Oct 201422Win22–0Prince MazTKO7 (12), 30 Aug 201421Win21–0Prince Maz1 (12), 17 Jul 201420Win20–0Akram JawfiKO1 (12), 10 Nov 201319Win19–0Ali SalemTKO1 (12), 5 Nov 201318Win18–0Mustafa HumaidiKO1 (12), 1 Nov 201317Win17–0Omar AwdanKO1 (12), 20 Oct 201316Win16–0Husam ShargabiKO1 (12), 11 Oct 201315Win15–0Yasin Abdulkhalik1 (12), 7 Oct 201314Win14–0Asam DolbhanteKO1 (12), 30 Sep 201313Win13–0Luke HasanKO1 (12), 27 Sep 201312Win12–0Ali DridiKO1 (4), 14 Jul 201311Win11–0Salman UmariKO1 (4), 7 Jul 201310Win10–0Yaser DalbantKO1 (4), 4 Jul 20139Win9–0Ahmed SaeedKO1 (4), 30 Jun 20138Win8–0Farhan ShebanaKO1 (4), 23 Jun 20137Win7–0Ahmed YousifiKO1 (4), 11 Jun 20136Win6–0Ahmad CisoKO1 (4), 30 May 20135Win5–0Amad Al-GadsiKO1 (4), 6 May 20134Win4–0Rashad HorunKO1 (12), 11 Apr 20113Win3–0Sabin JumaKO1 (12), 30 Mar 20112Win2–0Hamdan JaberKO1 (4), 5 Mar 20111Win1–0Hasan Wesabi1 (4), 25 Jan 2011
References