Ali Raymi (born Ali Ibrahim Ali Al-Raimi; ar, علي الريمي; 7 December 1973 – 23 May 2015) was a Yemeni

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

and

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 ...

. In boxing he is best known for his fight record of 25 wins and no losses, with all 25 wins by

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

; 22 in the first round. Raymi lived in

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...

prior to 1991. He died in an explosion, possibly an

airstrike An airstrike, air strike or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighters, heavy bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters and drones. The offic ...

on the Republican Guard positions in Al-Nahdeen district, on 23 May 2015 in

Sana'a Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Governo ...

, aged 41.

Personal life

Ali Raymi won a gold medal in Algeria for the Yemeni military, representing the

amateur boxing Amateur boxing is a variant of boxing practiced at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games, as well as many associations. Amateur boxing bouts are short in duration, comprising three rounds of three ...

team, his purported amateur record was 117–2, all by way of knockout, although there is no proof of this record. Stories of Raymi's life including his military career were released by his manager Felix J Arno in an interview with ''The Ring'' magazine managing editor Brian Harty.

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 & 2007. It was during this time that Ali Raymi started breaking Yemeni cultural norms by challenging foreign fighters, and participating in private unsanctioned fights for the next 3 years. Raymi grew to have a reputation in

as a loose cannon. On 11 November 2013, he set a new world record by winning his first 20 fights as a professional 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

Ali Raymi a Colonel in the Yemeni Anti-Terrorism forces was killed in an explosion in 23 May 2015.

Postmortem ranking

In December 2013, Raymi was ranked in the top ten by two major boxing sanctioning bodies: seventh by the WBO and ninth by the WBC. Additionally, the IBO had ranked him number one in August 2014, while the WBO improved his ranking to sixth in January 2015, as did the WBA in May 2015. Raymi also offered $100,000 to then-WBA and IBO strawweight champion

Hekkie Budler Hector "Hekkie" Budler (born 18 May 1988) is a South African professional boxer. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the IBO and WBA minimumweight titles between 2011 and 2016 and the unified WBA (Super), IBF, and ''Ring'' magazine ...

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 Dan Rafael (; born August 25, 1970) is an American sportswriter known for his coverage of boxing and baseball. Early life and education Rafael was born in Albany, New York. He attended Binghamton University, where he wrote for the school paper. ...

, senior boxing writer at

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, 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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raymi, Ali 1973 births Mini-flyweight boxers Light-flyweight boxers Flyweight boxers Yemeni male boxers Yemeni military officers 2015 deaths Deaths by airstrike Yemeni military personnel killed in the Yemeni Civil War (2014–present) Sportspeople from Mecca