Gamal Yafai

Gamal Yafai (born 4 August 1991) is an English professional boxer. As an amateur he was a member of the England elite squad as well as the Great British podium squad and won bronze at the 2010 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Moscow.

Gamal boxed for the Birmingham City Police ABC in Birmingham and was a member of the Great Britain elite squad trained by Robert McCracken and funded with money from the National Lottery. His brother Khalid Yafai boxed at the 2008 Summer Olympics and was also a member of the Great Britain elite squad.

In June 2010 Gamal won the bronze medal at the 2010 European Championships in Moscow. En route to the semi-finals Yafai beat Israels Peter Moyshenzon 11-1 in the 1st round, Italy's Vittorio Parrinello 5-3 in the second and Irelands John Joe Nevin, a World bronze medalist, in the quarter finals. Yafai lost in the semi-final 3-2 to the Russian Eduard Abzalimv and so securing the bronze medal. The tournament was Yafai's first outing at senior international level.

Domestically at only 17 years of age was crowned ABA flyweight champion in 2009 with a win over Adam Whitfield beating him 11-5 in the final. Gamal followed in the footsteps of his brother Khalid who won an ABA title in 2008. Of the victory Yafai's coach at his club in Birmingham Frank O'Sullivan said "I was concerned about Gamal’s stamina but he handled it well...He boxed superbly to instructions and finished the first round 2-2. At the end of the second it was 5-5 and Gamal then went all out to win and stormed to success 11-5...It was a cracking victory and now Gamal can go on and establish his own career and will, for instance, be boxing in the three nations for England at Liverpool at the end of May." Yafai did indeed box in the three nations tournament featuring competitors from England, Wales and Scotland once again meeting Adam Whitfield in the final and once again coming out on top, this time 13-4.

Early career

A 22 year old Yafai turned professional in May 2014 at the First Direct Arena in Leeds on a Sky Sports card promoted by Matchroom Sport. Yafai defeated Ricky Leach via a 1st-round TKO in a scheduled four round fight. Ten days later, Yafai fought on the undercard of Froch-Groves II at Wembley Stadium against Jack Heath. Referee wisely stopped contest in round 1 with just 20 seconds remaining. Health was down twice, first from a head shot, and then a left hook to the body.

On 12 July, Yafai defeated 31 year old Spanish journeyman Reynaldo Cajina on points. Referee John Latham scored it 40-36 to Yafai. Two months later, Yafai faced off against French boxer Sofian Bellahcene at Wembley Arena, outpointing him (60-54) on the referee scorecard. After a 6-month lay off, Yafai returned to the boxing ring in March 2015, beating Polish boxer Krzysztof Rogowski at the Ice Arena in Hull via 3rd-round TKO. Two months later, Yafai fought at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham beating Spanish boxer Arnoldo Solano (14-7, 0 KOs) via points decision. The referee scored it 80-71 for Yafai. In August, Yafai defeated Spanish boxer Angel Lorente at the Craven Park Stadium in Hull via a 6-round points decision, after knocking him down once in round 5. The referee Michael Alexander scored it 60-53. On 17 October 2015, Yafai was scheduled in his first ever 10 round bout as a professional at the Barclaycard Arena against Tanzanian boxer Nasibu Ramadhani. This was also a Commonwealth super-bantamweight title eliminator. Yafai defied an injured left hand to earn a comprehensive 99-91 points victory. Yafai sustained the injury inside the opening three rounds and was put on the back foot, but regained his composure in the fifth and was on top by the sixth as he started landing hooks on Ramadhani, who struggled to connect.

Domestic success

On 5 March 2016, in his ninth professional fight, Yafai stopped Bobby Jenkinson (9-1-1, 2 KOs) in seven rounds at the Genting Arena in Birmingham to take the Commonwealth super bantamweight title. yafai picked up a cut four rounds in but followed up with a blistering show that ended with two knockdowns. The first knockdown coming from a straight left and the second from a left hook to the body. The victory took Yafai to 9-0, gave him his first belt and showed the watching boxing world he has the talent to follow in the footsteps of Carl Frampton and Scott Quigg in the future.

It was announced that Yafai would make a first defence of his title at the First Direct Arena on 30 July. His opponent was announced to be Josh Wale (20-8-2, 11 KOs). Yafai was taken the 12 round distance for the first time since turning professional in 2014, making a first successful defence of his Commonwealth title. Yafai started off sharp and cut Wale over the right eye in the round 1, although a replay showed that it was due to a clash of heads. The three judges scored it 118-111, 117-112, 117-112, all in favour of Yafai.

Yafai was due to defend his Commonwealth title on 22 October 2016 against Sean Davis at the Barclaycard Arena on the undercard of Gavin-Eggington, however on 17 October Yafai had to pull out after injuring his ankle in a training session. Paul Economides instead fought Davis for the vacant WBC International title and Gamal's brother Kal was also added to the card which was a warm-up fight.

On 22 February 2017, Yafai lost his Commonwealth super bantamweight title after failing to take part in a mandatory. On 27 February, promoter Eddie Hearn announced that Yafai would travel to Germany for his first fight not on home soil on the undercard of the WBA 'regular' light middleweight title fight between Demetrius Andrade and Jack Culcay at the Friedrich-Ebert-Halle in Ludwigshafen, Rhineland-Palatinate. Yafai put on a concrete display throughout the six round fight to win via unanimous decision against Georgian journeyman Khvicha Gigolashvili.

On 15 March, it was confirmed that Yafai would finally get a chance to compete for the WBC International title against undefeated titlist Sean Davis on the undercard of Kal's first world title defence at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham on 13 May 2017. Yafai knocked Davis down six times winning the fight via stoppage in round 7. The first knockdown came in round 3, two more knockdowns following in round 5 and a further three knockdowns in round 7 before the fight was halted. Two of the knockdowns in round 7 where due to hard body shots.

Regional/International titles:

• Commonwealth super bantamweight champion (122 lbs)