Ramla Ali and Crystal Garcia Nova will create boxing history in Saudi Arabia.
The two will fight on the Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk undercard on August 20th.
Ramla Ali 6-0, 1 KO) a Somali-British, and Garcia Nova (10-2, 10 KO’s) of the Dominican Republic will become the first female boxers to feature in an official international event in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, clashing in an eight-round super-bantamweight contest.
Between this pair and the Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano bout at MSG, this has been a prosperous year for women’s boxing bringing much-needed viewership to a neglected facet of this sport.
The undercard also includes a final eliminator for the IBF heavyweight world title with Croatian heavyweight Filip Hrgovic (14-0, 12 KOs) going against China’s undefeated Zhilei Zhang (24-0-1, 19 KOs). The two were originally set to clash on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez vs Dmitry Bivol in May.
Hrgovic is No.3 in the IBF rankings and the showdown will name the mandatory challenger for the title held by Usyk although the Ukrainian if he wins, may be tempted to fight Tyson Fury for the unification of the heavyweight division.
Elsewhere on the undercard, Liverpool’s Callum Smith (28-1, 20 KOs), ranked the No.1 contender with the WBC in the light-heavyweight division, will face Mathieu Bauderlique (21-1, 12 KOs) in a final eliminator for the world title currently held by Artur Beterbiev.
Smith was last in action on the undercard of the first meeting between Usyk and Joshua at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in September, destroying Lenin Castillo with a brutal second-round KO to return to winning ways.
