Ali Raymi

Ali Raymi (born Ali Ibrahim Ali Al-Raimi; Arabic: علي الريمي; 7 December 1973 – 23 May 2015) was a Yemeni professional boxer and military officer. In boxing he is best known for his fight record of 26 wins and no losses, with all 26 wins by knockout; 23 in the first round. On 17 July 2014, he set a new world record by winning his first 21 professional fights by first-round knockout. He won the International Boxing Institute (IBI) minimumweight title when he beat Prince Maz. Also that year, he won the Universal Boxing Organization (UBO) World Junior Flyweight title.

Raymi lived in Mecca, Saudi Arabia prior to 1991. He was killed in action by an explosion, possibly from a Qatari airstrike on Yemeni Republican Guard positions during the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in the Yemeni Civil War, on 23 May 2015 in Sana'a. He was ranked No. 6 by the World Boxing Association (WBA) at 108 pounds and No. 8 by the World Boxing Organization (WBO) at 105 pounds at the time of his death.

Raymi won a gold medal in Algeria for the Yemeni military, representing the amateur boxing team, his purported amateur record was 117–2, all by way of knockout, although there is no proof of this record. Stories of Raymi's life including his military career were released by his filmmaker manager Felix Arno in an interview with The Ring magazine managing editor Brian Harty.

Yemeni News archives show Raymi started boxing at the age of 30 representing the Yemeni military, compiling an amateur record of 117–2, winning all 117 by KO which many believe to be embellished. He was a Yemeni amateur champion in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. It was during this time that Raymi started breaking Yemeni cultural norms by challenging foreign fighters, and participating in private unsanctioned fights for the next three years. Raymi grew to have a reputation in Sana'a as a loose cannon.

On 17 July 2014, he set a new world record by winning his first 21 professional fights by first-round knockout.

Prince Maz was the first fighter to extend Ali Raymi outside the first round, repeating the feat in three out of four encounters

• RTD1, 2014-07-17
• TKO7, 2014-08-30
• RTD9, 2014-10-16
• TKO2, 2014-11-19

Raymi, a Colonel in the Yemeni Anti-Terrorism forces, was killed in an explosion on 23 May 2015.

In December 2013, Raymi was ranked in the top ten by two major boxing sanctioning bodies: seventh by the WBO and ninth by the WBC. Additionally, the IBO had ranked him number one in August 2014, while the WBO improved his ranking to sixth in January 2015, as did the WBA in May 2015. Raymi also offered $100,000 to then-WBA and IBO strawweight champion Hekkie Budler for a fight in Yemen. The WBA ranked Raymi as #6 light flyweight in April 2015 and only dropped him five ranking spots to eleventh place when he died.

Dan Rafael, senior boxing writer at ESPN, criticized the organization for the "utterly and absolutely indefensible" ranking situation. He explained, commenting that Raymi's record was "hollow... considering he fought absolutely nobody of remote recognition or accomplishment as he fashioned that glittering but meaningless mark..."