Lies, Damn Lies and Ali Raymi

By Mark McKenna

There’s nothing more aesthetically pleasing in boxing than the unbeaten record…..

Suggesting complete dominance and invulnerability, it presents an undeniable marketing tool and in the days of must see TV any promoter will tell you 20-0 with 20 knockouts equals box office bonanza and bums on seats.

One of the great joys of life for a boxing fanatic is scouring www.boxrec.com at random to seek out new names in the fistic galaxy – just have a peek at the world wide boxing schedule there some time and you will be deluged with prospect after prospect from Argentina to Zimbabwe sporting eye popping numbers on their way up the ladder.

Perhaps two years ago I was doing this very same thing and came across a mystifying record than made me immediately want to dig deeper.

First off, the fighter’s name was Ali Raymi – a straw weight born in 1973 fighting exclusively in the Yemen. The Yemen will never be known as a pugilistic hotbed domestically – I can’t randomly recall of any fighters who have made a name fighting there exclusively.

Perhaps the Yemen’s most well-known boxing export would be Prince Naseem Hamed. “Naz”needs zero introduction to true boxing fans. The flashy Sheffield born featherweight king racked up a 36-1 record from 1992-2001 and entertained fans on both sides of the pond.

Hamed thrilled us with concussive punching power as he laid waste to 31 opponents with a cryptic style only Marco Antonio Barrera was capable of solving and an attitude that screamed a mixture of hubris and arrogance.

Raymi’s knockout stats similarly made me give second for pause. As of this writing he is 23-0, all wins inside the distance. The first 21 wins are all in the first round thus beating the late (credible) Edwin Valero and more recent (farcial) Tyrone Brunson’s respective all time records at the start of a career for opening round blowouts.

The real kicker though has to be the fact that up to his last 3 fights all of Raymi’s opponents have been UNBEATEN! I am utterly sure that this is a first in boxing history.

Here I am thinking that this guy must be the reincarnation of Sugar Ray Robinson with Joe Louis punching power to top it off (Rare as hen’s teeth for a man weighing 105 pounds unless your name happens to be Ricardo Lopez or Roman Gonzalez)

At this point I go to youtube as I need to see this guy in action. I am excited to see the skill, talent and ring generalship which Ali must possess …

And this is where the Bullshit radar rings loud and clear….

Seriously, rarely have I seen more comical or weird boxing from anyone on this planet. The technical word that may be better suited is “crap”. Just go and look up Ali VS Luke Hasan (A then 4-0 Somalian boxer who folds in under thirty seconds of “devastation” from Raymi) as Exhibit A.
There is no technique, no defense and what looks to be minimal punching power from Raymi who throws nothing but windmilling body punches – no headshots oddly – before Hasan folds very slowly and suspiciously to the mat in front of what appears to be a school gymnasium and a bunch of non plussed fans watching the dive in progress. Hasan looks as if he is there mid Ramadan and just wants a decent meal and a sleep – preferably on a canvas ensemble.

Interestingly at one stage youtube was littered with Raymi bouts but as his fame (COUGH…notoriety) has grown curiously the footage has disappeared. For his last three bouts a first, seventh and ninth round KO over the same poor sap Prince Maz the videos of this modern day Ali-Frazier have gone up and been pulled down in a 24 hour period with the recordings so grainy they may as well be bootlegs from Thailand.

The 40 year old Raymi whose Wikipedia entry also states a completely imaginary amateur record of 117-2 (all wins by knockout – who is this guy? the Straw weight version of Courage Tshabalala?) states he started boxing age 30 in the Yemen military winning multiple national championships.

His entire background seems murky and disjointed with his only interview coming on a boxing website back in November 2013. It painted a picture of a rebellious and alternately philosophical character with more quotes than a rerun of Jerry Macguire.
Some of the more hilarious comments are below from a fellow whose self-anointed nicknames are ‘The Apotheosis’ ‘The Legendary Entity’ ‘The Legendary Essence’,’The Greatest Ever’ and ‘GOD’ :

• I will fight till the last moment of my biological existence
• I don’t like discussing my pre boxing past as I feel it will be considered inappropriately semi-legendary
• My chin is titanium , my fists are uranium
• Champions who don’t want to be KO’d brutally have a choice to vacate the belts and move to another division or retire

Recently Raymi threatened retirement if Roman Gonzalez didn’t step up to his challenge with a move up to flyweight mentioned; another challenge to junior featherweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux has been summarily ignored as plainly ridiculous.

Did I mention the WBC, WBO and IBF among others have this guy ranked already on the basis of his funniest home videos?

That Gonzalez fight would be the equivalent of a Chainsaw against a twig. Gonzalez would likely fight one armed and still blast out Raymi inside a minute. With Roman’s camp possibly still doubled over from laughter Raymi has ceased his Twitter tirades to focus on nail biting fight number four with ‘Prince Maz’ Wednesday night.

Maz has claimed ‘extreme bias’ in the previous three fights and Yemeni mafioso officiating preventing a favorable outcome for his cause.

Despite this guy being as crooked as a six dollar bill I find him amusing and entertaining in a silly kind of way. Much like Shannon Briggs talks trash to Klitschko and wants that one last payday, Raymi is in the same vein. Harmless in small doses, not to be taken seriously but has me fascinated at the same time.

It’s unclear if his statements are lost in translation or he is truly that deluded.

Time will tell….