Sadam Ali
Encyclopedia
Sadam Ali is a professional welterweight boxer
from the United States
.
Yemen
i-immigrant parents, has four sisters and a brother. Ali began boxing at the Bed-Stuy Boxing Club in the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant at the age of eight, after being inspired by Yemeni-British boxer "Prince" Naseem Hamed
. Ali now represents the Havoc Boxing Club.
National Champion, a PAL National Champion, a U-19 National Champion, and a two-time New York City Golden Gloves champion.
In 2006, Ali won the National Golden Glove Championship
in the featherweight
division in 2006 at the age of 17. Ali then represented the United States at the 2006 World Junior Championships, where he won a bronze medal after losing in the semifinal round to eventual gold medalist Yordan Frometa
of Cuba
by a score of 41-39, in a bout in which two points were deducted from Ali because he was weaving too low.
In 2007, Ali moved up to lightweight
and again won the National Golden Glove Championship in his new division. Ali is only the second boxer to win it in two different weight classes in consecutive years in New York. Later that year, he was upset by Jerry Belemontes of Corpus Christi, Texas
13-12 in the quarterfinal round of the U.S. Boxing Championships. However, in August 2007, Ali defeated Belemontes and finished in first place in the lightweight division at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Houston, becoming the first boxer from the five boroughs of New York City
to win at the trials since Riddick Bowe
in 1988. While this did not immediately qualify him to represent the United States in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing
, he became the sole American lightweight permitted to compete in three Olympic qualification tournaments to be held over the ensuing eight months, for one of the six berths allocated to lightweights from the Americas. Ali was the first Arab-American to represent the United States
in the Olympics.
The first of the three Olympic qualification tournaments was the World Amateur Boxing Championship
, which was held in Chicago
in the fall of 2007. Ali was eliminated in a competitive second round match by Armenia's
Hrachik Javakhyan. As only one lightweight from the Americas qualified in Chicago, five berths remained open.
and Kazakhstan
" exhibition event held in Zunyi
. Ali's doping test at the exhibition returned positive for Cathine
, a banned stimulant found in many cold medicine
s. The infraction carried a potential two-year suspension from amateur competition, which would have disqualified him from the 2008 Summer Olympics
.
Ali accepted a voluntary indefinite suspension on November 22, 2007. However, he maintained his innocence and appealed to the International Boxing Association ("AIBA")
to overturn the test results, Ali hired an attorney, Salvatore Strazzullo, to challenge the findings and allegations because he had taken Cathine
inadvertently after contracting a cold in China. His doctor later admitted medicines he had given Ali, when mixed together could have created the positive test for Cathine
. The Olympic Games
Committee bars cathine in concentrations of over five micrograms per milliliter in urine. In February 2008, Ali agreed to drop his challenges in exchange for a three-month ban retroactive to the date on which he had originally accepted his voluntary suspension. Since his ban had expired on February 22, 2008, Ali was allowed to participate in the two remaining Olympic qualification tournaments held in the Spring of 2008.
1st Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament held in Port of Spain
, Trinidad and Tobago
in March 2008. He defeated Jesus Cuadro of Venezuela
in the quarterfinal round, and Juan Nicolas Cuellas of Argentina
in the semifinal round. He lost by decision in the final round to Cuba's
Yordenis Ugas
by a score of 13-5. round.
On August 11, 2008, Ali was outboxed at the Olympic Games in his opening match, losing by decision to Georgian Popescu of Romania
, by a score of 20-5. Ali turned professional after the 2008 Olympics.
Ali recorded a third round stoppage of Julias Edmunds in his first live televised fight on ESPN
on July 16, 2010, at The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. He returned to The Prudential Center on August 21, 2010, in his second televised bout and knocked out Lenin Arroyo
on the undercard to Tomas Adamek versus Michael Grant
. On December, 9th to finish the year Ali on his 2nd PPV event fought to a unanimous decision against Manuel Guzman to record his 11th win. On April 9, in his 3rd PPV televised bout Ali knocked out Javier Perez in the 3rd Round On the Tomas Ademek undercard.
November 6, 2010 Brooklyn, N.Y., welterweight Sadam Ali (10-0, 6 KOs), the 2008 U.S. Olympic lightweight and the first Arab-American boxer to go to the Olympics, scored an overwhelming second-round knockout of New Orleans' Gary Bergeron (12-6, 7 KOs), who had no answers for anything Ali threw at him.
Ali started fast, hammering a defensive Bergeron in the first round. He was landing solid uppercuts and left hands to the body before dropping him with a left hook to the chin. Bergeron survived, but Ali was crushing him with combinations as the round came to an end. Ali landed 37 of 92 punches in the opening round.
It was more of the same in the second round. While Ali was blasting him with left hook after left hook, Bergeron could little more than try to hold on, but he couldn't even do that effectively. Ali dropped him with an uppercut and was smashing him until a three-punch combination to the head badly staggered him again, forcing referee Lindsey Paige to stop the fight at 2 minutes, 18 seconds. Ali outlanded Bergeron 70-8 in the fight.
|- style="text-align:center; background:#e3e3e3;"
| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Res.
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| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Opponent
| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Type
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| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Date
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|Win
|14-0 ||align=left|
Boris Berg
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|Win
|13-0 ||align=left|
John Revish
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|Win
|12-0||align=left|
Javier Perez
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Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Biography
Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised there by his MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
i-immigrant parents, has four sisters and a brother. Ali began boxing at the Bed-Stuy Boxing Club in the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant at the age of eight, after being inspired by Yemeni-British boxer "Prince" Naseem Hamed
Naseem Hamed
Naseem Hamed is an English former professional boxer.He is the former WBO, WBC, IBF, & Lineal featherweight champion, and European bantamweight champion....
. Ali now represents the Havoc Boxing Club.
Career
Ali is a Junior OlympicAAU Junior Olympic Games
The AAU Junior Olympic Games are the pinnacle competition held annually by the US Amateur Athletic Union.-Sports currently held:The following is a list of sports that currently take place at the Junior Olympic Games.* Aquatics - Diving and Swimming...
National Champion, a PAL National Champion, a U-19 National Champion, and a two-time New York City Golden Gloves champion.
In 2006, Ali won the National Golden Glove Championship
National Golden Gloves Featherweight Champions
Below is a list of National Golden Gloves Featherweight Champions along with the state or region which they represented. The Light Welterweight weight limit was first contested at 126 pounds...
in the featherweight
Featherweight
Featherweight is a weight class division in the sport of boxing. There are similarly named divisions under several Mixed Martial Arts organizations and in Greco-Roman wrestling.-Professional boxing:...
division in 2006 at the age of 17. Ali then represented the United States at the 2006 World Junior Championships, where he won a bronze medal after losing in the semifinal round to eventual gold medalist Yordan Frometa
Yordan Frometa
Yordan Frómeta is a Cuban amateur boxer who has won U17 and junior world titles at featherweight.-Career:At the U17 world championships 2005 he edged out Onur Sipal in the final....
of Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
by a score of 41-39, in a bout in which two points were deducted from Ali because he was weaving too low.
In 2007, Ali moved up to lightweight
Lightweight
Light-weight is a class of athletes in a particular sport, based on their weight.-Professional boxing:The lightweight division is over 130 pounds and up to 135 pounds weight class in the sport of boxing....
and again won the National Golden Glove Championship in his new division. Ali is only the second boxer to win it in two different weight classes in consecutive years in New York. Later that year, he was upset by Jerry Belemontes of Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...
13-12 in the quarterfinal round of the U.S. Boxing Championships. However, in August 2007, Ali defeated Belemontes and finished in first place in the lightweight division at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Houston, becoming the first boxer from the five boroughs of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to win at the trials since Riddick Bowe
Riddick Bowe
Riddick Lamont Bowe is a retired American boxer. He is a two-time heavyweight champion and a former undisputed heavyweight champion...
in 1988. While this did not immediately qualify him to represent the United States in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, he became the sole American lightweight permitted to compete in three Olympic qualification tournaments to be held over the ensuing eight months, for one of the six berths allocated to lightweights from the Americas. Ali was the first Arab-American to represent the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the Olympics.
The first of the three Olympic qualification tournaments was the World Amateur Boxing Championship
2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships
The 2007 AIBA World Boxing Championships were held in Chicago, United States from October 23, 2007 to November 3, 2007. It was held at the UIC Pavilion. It was the biggest World Championships in AIBA history. The championships were originally awarded to Moscow...
, which was held in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in the fall of 2007. Ali was eliminated in a competitive second round match by Armenia's
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
Hrachik Javakhyan. As only one lightweight from the Americas qualified in Chicago, five berths remained open.
Alleged Cathine Controversy
Three weeks after the Chicago tournament, Ali participated in a "USA vs. ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
" exhibition event held in Zunyi
Zunyi
Zunyi is a prefecture-level city in Guizhou province in southwestern China. Along with Guiyang and Liupanshui, it is one of the most important cities of the province...
. Ali's doping test at the exhibition returned positive for Cathine
Cathine
Cathine, also known as d-norpseudoephedrine, is a psychoactive drug of the phenethylamine and amphetamine chemical classes which acts as a stimulant...
, a banned stimulant found in many cold medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
s. The infraction carried a potential two-year suspension from amateur competition, which would have disqualified him from the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
.
Ali accepted a voluntary indefinite suspension on November 22, 2007. However, he maintained his innocence and appealed to the International Boxing Association ("AIBA")
International Boxing Association
The International Boxing Association is a for-profit organization that sanctions professional boxing matches and awards world and subordinate championships.- Origins :...
to overturn the test results, Ali hired an attorney, Salvatore Strazzullo, to challenge the findings and allegations because he had taken Cathine
Cathine
Cathine, also known as d-norpseudoephedrine, is a psychoactive drug of the phenethylamine and amphetamine chemical classes which acts as a stimulant...
inadvertently after contracting a cold in China. His doctor later admitted medicines he had given Ali, when mixed together could have created the positive test for Cathine
Cathine
Cathine, also known as d-norpseudoephedrine, is a psychoactive drug of the phenethylamine and amphetamine chemical classes which acts as a stimulant...
. The Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
Committee bars cathine in concentrations of over five micrograms per milliliter in urine. In February 2008, Ali agreed to drop his challenges in exchange for a three-month ban retroactive to the date on which he had originally accepted his voluntary suspension. Since his ban had expired on February 22, 2008, Ali was allowed to participate in the two remaining Olympic qualification tournaments held in the Spring of 2008.
Olympic Qualification
Ali qualified for the 2008 Olympics by finishing in second place at the AIBAInternational Boxing Association
The International Boxing Association is a for-profit organization that sanctions professional boxing matches and awards world and subordinate championships.- Origins :...
1st Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament held in Port of Spain
Port of Spain
Port of Spain, also written as Port-of-Spain, is the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third-largest municipality, after San Fernando and Chaguanas. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 , a metropolitan population of 128,026 and a transient daily population...
, Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
in March 2008. He defeated Jesus Cuadro of Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
in the quarterfinal round, and Juan Nicolas Cuellas of Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
in the semifinal round. He lost by decision in the final round to Cuba's
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
Yordenis Ugas
Yordenis Ugas
Yordenis Ugás Hernández is a Cuban amateur boxer best known to win the lightweight 2005 World Amateur Boxing Championships at age 19 following Mario Kindelan.-Career:...
by a score of 13-5. round.
On August 11, 2008, Ali was outboxed at the Olympic Games in his opening match, losing by decision to Georgian Popescu of Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, by a score of 20-5. Ali turned professional after the 2008 Olympics.
Professional career
On January 17, 2009, Ali made his pro debut and needed just 1:42 to defeat Ricky Thompson.Ali recorded a third round stoppage of Julias Edmunds in his first live televised fight on ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
on July 16, 2010, at The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. He returned to The Prudential Center on August 21, 2010, in his second televised bout and knocked out Lenin Arroyo
Lenin Arroyo
Lenin Arroyo is a professional boxer based in Miami, Florida, in the United States.Arroyo aka "Volcano", made his professional debut on October 12, 2002 vs. Anolan Regal Del Valle at the South Florida Fairgrounds in West Palm Beach, Florida...
on the undercard to Tomas Adamek versus Michael Grant
Michael Grant
Michael Grant may refer to:* Michael Grant, 12th Baron de Longueuil , nobleman possessing the only French colonial title recognized by the King or Queen of Canada* Michael Grant , American football player...
. On December, 9th to finish the year Ali on his 2nd PPV event fought to a unanimous decision against Manuel Guzman to record his 11th win. On April 9, in his 3rd PPV televised bout Ali knocked out Javier Perez in the 3rd Round On the Tomas Ademek undercard.
November 6, 2010 Brooklyn, N.Y., welterweight Sadam Ali (10-0, 6 KOs), the 2008 U.S. Olympic lightweight and the first Arab-American boxer to go to the Olympics, scored an overwhelming second-round knockout of New Orleans' Gary Bergeron (12-6, 7 KOs), who had no answers for anything Ali threw at him.
Ali started fast, hammering a defensive Bergeron in the first round. He was landing solid uppercuts and left hands to the body before dropping him with a left hook to the chin. Bergeron survived, but Ali was crushing him with combinations as the round came to an end. Ali landed 37 of 92 punches in the opening round.
It was more of the same in the second round. While Ali was blasting him with left hook after left hook, Bergeron could little more than try to hold on, but he couldn't even do that effectively. Ali dropped him with an uppercut and was smashing him until a three-punch combination to the head badly staggered him again, forcing referee Lindsey Paige to stop the fight at 2 minutes, 18 seconds. Ali outlanded Bergeron 70-8 in the fight.
Professional boxing record
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="8"|14 Wins (8 knockouts, 6 decisions), 0 Losses, 0 Draw(s)|- style="text-align:center; background:#e3e3e3;"
| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Res.
| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Record
| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Opponent
| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Type
| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Rd., Time
| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Date
| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Location
| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Notes
|- align=center
|Win
|14-0 ||align=left|
Boris Berg|
|
|
|align=left|
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|13-0 ||align=left|
John Revish|
|
|
|align=left|
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|12-0||align=left|
Javier Perez|
|
|
|align=left|
|align=left|
|- align=center
External links
- Article
- 2006 World Junior Championships
- http://www.usaboxing.org/86_1886.htm
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvCuDAoJFJA
- http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=11398
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvCuDAoJFJA
- Sadam Ali Amateur Boxing Record
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