RAMLA Ali defeated Brazil’s Lila Furtado on points on the New York undercard, preliminary portion, of Taylor-Serrano III. It was a surprising decision in favour of Ali, who prevailed by two scores of 77-75 and a 78-74. The general consensus seemed to be that after round two, Furtado’s raw pressure was taking the rounds.
“All respect to Ramla Ali, but she didn’t win that fight,” said Andre Ward, commentating on Netflix’s YouTube channel.
There was no danger of mixing these ladies up as Ali, trained by former pro John Ryder, sported a classy Versace number, perfectly complemented by Furtado’s sparkly attire.
Furtado shipped a solid right hand in round two that almost sent her to the canvas. The Brazilian managed to ride out the storm and carried on pitching. She entered the fourth with an aggressive nature, as blood gently dribbled out of her nostrils.
Ali was the better technical boxer. Furtado’s furious bursts were dragging the UK-based Somalian into unwanted exchanges. Furtado’s corner team implored her to motor forward and land the body shots between rounds four and five.
Furtado’s head was a little liberal at times, although referee Sparkle Lee let her work inside mostly. Ali suffered a bad cut across the left eye in round eight as she swung to try and retain any last shed of relevance on the fringes on the fringes of world level.
Ali felt the ghost knockdown in round two helped her edge it. She dealt with the post-fight interview gracefully, especially when interviewer Ariel Helwani directly informed her that he thought she lost.
The records suggest otherwise as she improves to 10-2 (2 KOs) while Lila Furtado is now an unfortunate 11-3 (2 KOs).
