1. Gamal Yafai held the European super-bantamweight title between 2020 and May 2021 and previously held the Commonwealth super-bantamweight title in 2016.
32 Facts About Gamal Yafai
1. 2.
Gamal Yafai was born in Birmingham, England, on 4 August 1991 to Yemeni parents.
3.
Gamal Yafai is the brother of Olympic champion flyweight Galal Yafai and former world professional flyweight champion Kal Yafai.
4.
Gamal Yafai boxed for the Birmingham City Police ABC and was a member of the Great Britain elite squad trained by Robert McCracken and funded with money from the National Lottery.
5.
In June 2010 Gamal Yafai won the bronze medal at the 2010 European Championships in Moscow.
6.
Gamal Yafai followed in the footsteps of his brother Khalid who won an ABA title in 2008.
7.
Gamal Yafai defeated Ricky Leach via a 1st-round TKO in a scheduled four round fight.
8.
Ten days later, Gamal Yafai fought on the undercard of Froch-Groves II at Wembley Stadium against Jack Heath.
9.
Two months later, Gamal Yafai faced off against French boxer Sofian Bellahcene at Wembley Arena, outpointing him on the referee scorecard.
10.
Two months later, Gamal Yafai fought at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham beating Spanish boxer Arnoldo Solano via points decision.
11.
On 17 October 2015, Gamal Yafai was scheduled in his first ever 10 round bout as a professional at the Barclaycard Arena against Tanzanian boxer Nasibu Ramadhani.
12.
Gamal 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.
13.
On 5 March 2016, in his ninth professional fight, Gamal Yafai stopped Bobby Jenkinson in seven rounds at the Genting Arena in Birmingham to take the Commonwealth super-bantamweight title.
14.
Gamal Yafai's opponent was announced to be Josh Wale.
15.
Gamal 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.
16.
Gamal 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.
17.
Gamal 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 Gamal Yafai had to pull out after injuring his ankle in a training session.
18.
Paul Economides instead fought Davis for the vacant WBC International title and Gamal Yafai's brother Kal was added to the card which was a warm-up fight.
19.
On 22 February 2017, Gamal Yafai lost his Commonwealth super bantamweight title after failing to take part in a mandatory.
20.
Gamal Yafai put on a concrete display throughout the six round fight to win via unanimous decision against Georgian journeyman Khvicha Gigolashvili.
21.
Gamal Yafai knocked Davis down six times winning the fight via stoppage in round 7.
22.
In December 2017, Gamal Yafai spoke to Sky Sports discussing 2017 as a frustrating year.
23.
Gamal Yafai stated that he wanted to fight British champion Thomas Patrick Ward in 2018.
24.
Gamal Yafai fought a scheduled six round bout against Liverpool boxer Ricky Starkey, stopping him in the third round.
25.
On 22 December, Eddie Hearn announced that Gamal Yafai would make his first defence of the WBC International title against fellow British rival and former world title challenger Gavin McDonnell at the FlyDSA Arena in Sheffield on the undercard of Kell Brook's return bout on 3 March 2018.
26.
Gamal Yafai opened the Okolie vs Chamberlain card at the O2 Arena in London on 3 February 2018 stopping Jose Hernandez in round 3 of their scheduled six round fight.
27.
McDonnell showed he had too much experience for Gamal Yafai in beating him via a 12 round unanimous decision, winning the WBC International title.
28.
In defeat, Gamal Yafai did well to land the occasional shots but ultimately could not keep up his work rate to match McDonnell.
29.
Gamal Yafai's next fight date was announced in July 2018, to be part of the JD: NXTGEN card on 4 August at the Ice Arena in Cardiff, Wales.
30.
Gamal Yafai was scheduled to fight at the Arena Birmingham on 8 September 2018.
31.
Gamal Yafai fought Nicaraguan boxer Jose Aguilar in a 6 round fight and stopped him with a left hook body shot in round 3.
32.
Gamal Yafai beat Rigoldi on points after twelve rounds of action.