Ramla Ali wins IBF and WBO world titles as one judge scores it 98-91 for Mikiah Kreps

Ali knocked down the previously unbeaten Kreps in the third round and took the other two cards 97-92 and 96-93 in the co-main event of MVPW-07 in Arlington, Texas.

Ramla Ali won the vacant IBF and WBO super bantamweight world titles with a split decision over Mikiah Kreps at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, on Sunday, handing Kreps her first defeat.

Two judges scored it 97-92 and 96-93 for Ali, while the third had it 98-91 for Kreps. Ali knocked Kreps down in the third round of the 10-round fight.

It was Ali's second shot at a world title, after she challenged for the WBC super bantamweight title in 2024. The 2016 English national champion, who became Somalia's first Olympic boxer at the Tokyo Games, is now 12-2 as a professional. Kreps, from Niagara Falls, New York, is 11-1.

The IBF and WBO belts were vacant after Ellie Scotney moved up to featherweight, and Ali's fight became the co-main event when Scotney was injured and pulled out of her featherweight title fight with Tiara Brown.

Alycia Baumgardner topped the bill, winning the IBF lightweight title from Elif Nur Turhan on a unanimous decision. Caroline Dubois, the WBC and WBO lightweight champion, has said she wants to face the winner of that fight at the O2 Arena in London. Dubois first fights Stephanie Han in El Paso on 20 February.

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