Galal Yafai ( ar, جلال يافعي; born 11 December 1992) is a British

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who as an amateur won gold at the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the List of Olympic Games h ...

. In his pro debut he won the vacant WBC International flyweight title.

Personal life

Yafai was born to

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

i parents. He is the younger brother of boxers Kal Yafai and

Gamal Yafai Gamal Yafai ( ar, جمال يافعي; born 4 August 1991) is a British professional boxer. He held the European super-bantamweight title between 2020 and May 2021 and previously held the Commonwealth super-bantamweight title in 2016. As an am ...

. Yafai was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...

for services to boxing.

Amateur career

While representing England in the

light-flyweight Light flyweight, also known as junior flyweight or super strawweight, is a Weight class (boxing), weight class in boxing. Professional boxing The weight limit at light flyweight in professional boxing is 108 pounds (49 kilograms). When New York (s ...

division, the southpaw won a silver medal at the 2017 European Championships and gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and bronze while representing Great Britain in the

flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb). Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of b ...

division at the

2019 European Games , translation: Time for bright victories! , nations participating = 50 , athletes participating = 4,082 , events = 200 in 15 sports , opening ceremony = 21 June , closing ceremony = 30 June , officially opened ...

. He also competed at the

2016 Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

. At the 2016 European Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament held in

Samsun Samsun, historically known as Sampsounta ( gr, Σαμψούντα) and Amisos (Ancient Greek: Αμισός), is a city on the north coast of Turkey and is a major Black Sea port. In 2021, Samsun recorded a population of 710,000 people. The cit ...

, Turkey, Yafai defeated

Samuel Carmona Heredia Samuel Carmona Heredia (born 28 May 1996) is a Spanish professional boxer. As an amateur, he competed in the Boxing at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's light flyweight, light flyweight event at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and was eliminated in t ...

of Spain by unanimous decision in his semifinal to secure his place in the 2016 Olympic. He won his round of 32 fight defeating Simplice Fotsala of Cameroon. He lost his Round of 16 fight to

Joahnys Argilagos Joahnys Oscar Argilagos Perez (born 11 January 1997) is a Cuban professional boxer. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics as well as winning a gold medal at both the 2015 and 2017 World Championships. Argilagos took ...

of Cuba. In May 2019, Yafai was selected to compete at the

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

, Belarus. He also competed at the 2019 World Championships in

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

, Russia, where he lost by unanimous decision to

Billal Bennama Billal Bennama (born 14 June 1998) is a French boxer. He won a medal at the 2019 AIBA World Boxing Championships. Born in France, he is of Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption ...

in the quarter-finals. He qualified to represent Great Britain at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, where he won the gold medal in the flyweight division beating Carlo Paalam of the Philippines in the final.

Professional career

Yafai faced Carlos Vado Bautista for the vacant WBC International

title on 27 February 2022, in his professional debut, on the undercard of the

Lawrence Okolie Lawrence Okolie (born 16 December 1992) is a British Nigerian professional boxer who has held the WBO cruiserweight title since 2021. At regional level, he held the Commonwealth cruiserweight title from 2018 to 2019, and the British and Europe ...

and Michal Cieslak cruiserweight title bout. He captured the regional title by a fifth-round technical knockout, as Bautista's corner decided to throw in the towel near the end of the round. Yafai successfully defended his WBC International flyweight title against Miguel Cartagena on 30 April 2022, in his United States debut, on the undercard of the Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano title unification bout, via a second round corner retirement.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* * * * * 1992 births Living people Boxers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Boxers at the 2019 European Games Boxers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Boxers from Birmingham, West Midlands Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games medallists in boxing English male boxers English Olympic medallists English people of Yemeni descent European Games bronze medalists for Great Britain European Games medalists in boxing Flyweight boxers Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in boxing Members of the Order of the British Empire {{England-boxing-bio-stub