Galal Yafai (; born 11 December 1992) is an English

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 fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

. He has held the WBC interim

flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing up to and including 51 kg (112 lb) for a title fight. Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of boxin ...

title since November 2024. As an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

, he won a silver medal at the 2017 European Championships; gold at the 2018 Commonwealth; bronze at the

2019 European Games The 2nd European Games 2019 (, ''Jeŭrapiejskija huĺni 2019''; , ''Yevropeyskiye igry 2019''), also known as the 2019 European Games or Minsk 2019 (; ), were held in Minsk, Belarus, from 21 June to 30 June 2019. The games featured 200 events in ...

; and gold at the

2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Early life

Yafai was born to

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

i parents. He is the younger brother of boxers Kal Yafai and

Gamal Yafai Gamal Yafai (; born 4 August 1991) is a British professional boxer. He held the European super-bantamweight title between 2020 and May 2021 and previously held the Commonwealth super-bantamweight title in 2016. As an amateur he won a bronze me ...

. Yafai was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for his services to boxing.

Amateur career

While representing England in the light-flyweight division, the southpaw won a silver medal at the 2017 European Championships and gold at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

, and bronze while representing Great Britain in the

division at the

. He also competed at the

2016 Rio Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. At the 2016 European Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament held in

Samsun Samsun is a List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, city on the north coast of Turkey and a major Black Sea port. The urban area recorded a population of 738,692 in 2022. The city is the capital of Samsun Province which has a population of ...

, Turkey, Yafai defeated Samuel Carmona Heredia of Spain by unanimous decision in his semifinal to secure his place in the 2016 Olympic. He won his round of 32 fight defeating Simplice Fotsala of Cameroon. He lost his Round of 16 fight to Joahnys Argilagos of Cuba. In May 2019, Yafai was selected to compete at the

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

, Belarus. He also competed at the 2019 World Championships in

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

, Russia, where he lost by unanimous decision to Billal Bennama in the quarter-finals. He qualified to represent Great Britain at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

, where he won the gold medal in the flyweight division beating

Carlo Paalam Carlo Paalam (; born July 16, 1998) is a Filipino amateur boxer. He made his Olympic debut and won silver medal in the flyweight division at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Early life Paalam was born on July 16, 1998, in Talakag, B ...

of the Philippines in the final.

Professional career

Yafai faced Carlos Vado Bautista for the vacant WBC International

title on 27 February 2022, in his professional debut, on the undercard of the

Lawrence Okolie Lawrence Okolie (born 16 December 1992) is a British professional boxer. He has held world championships in two weight classes, including the World Boxing Council (WBC) bridgerweight title in 2024, and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) cruise ...

and Michal Cieslak cruiserweight title bout. He captured the regional title by a fifth-round technical knockout, as Bautista's corner decided to throw in the towel near the end of the round. Yafai successfully defended his WBC International flyweight title against Miguel Cartagena on 30 April 2022, in his United States debut, on the undercard of the Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano title unification bout, via a second round corner retirement. On April 6, 2024 in Las Vegas, Yafai stopped Agustin Mauro Gauto in the eighth round and retained his WBC International flyweight title. Yafai stopped Sergio Oliva in round three at Canon Medical Arena in Sheffield, England, on 28 September 2024.

WBC interim flyweight championship

Yafai vs. Edwards

Yafai faced Sunny Edwards for the interim WBC flyweight title at Bp pulse LIVE in Birmingham, England on November 30, 2024. Yafai won the fight by TKO in the sixth round.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

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Galal Yafai - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
a
Box.Live
* * * * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Yafai, Galal 1992 births Living people English male boxers Boxers from Birmingham, West Midlands English people of Yemeni descent Yemeni boxers Boxers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Boxers at the 2019 European Games Boxers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Southpaw boxers Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games European Games bronze medalists for Great Britain European Games medalists in boxing Flyweight boxers English Olympic competitors Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers for Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in boxing Members of the Order of the British Empire 21st-century English sportsmen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in boxing