Boxing
Olympic champion Galal Yafai joins Matchroom
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Olympic gold medallist Galal Yafai MBE is joining the professional ranks after signing a long-term promotional deal with Matchroom Boxing.
The 29-year-old is set to make his highly-anticipated professional debut on the undercard of Lawrence Okolie's WBO cruiserweight world title defence against Michal Cieslak on February 27th, a fight which can be seen exclusively live on DAZN (except Australia and New Zealand).
Yafai fulfilled his dream of becoming an Olympic champion after beating the Philippines' Carlo Paalam to claim the flyweight gold medal for Team GB.
Boxing runs through the Birmingham fighter's blood with older brothers Kal and Gamal Yafai having successful professional careers. Former Olympian Kal won a European silver medal in 2010 before turning pro and won the WBA super-flyweight world title in 2016. Gamal meanwhile has had European and Commonwealth success.
"The goal now is to win a world title," said Yafai who is looking to follow in his brother's footsteps.
"I know there’s not many who have won Olympic Gold and then a world title so hopefully I can add my name to that list. There’s some great current world champions out there at the minute, I’m not going to call out any names but my time will come - I have set my sights on being at the very top."
Galal also reflected on his Olympic success in Tokyo last year and after capturing the highest honour in the amateur ranks, he is now ready to make the next step.
"I remember standing on the podium with the National Anthem playing with the medal around my neck, it was a surreal moment.
"I enjoyed my time in Tokyo and now I’m ready for the next step. Matchroom are the biggest promotional company in the world. I’ve known Eddie for years obviously with all the shows with my brothers so it was the best fit for me to become a world champion."
Matchroom's Eddie Hearn was delighted with securing Yafai's signature following a long relationship with the family and is expecting the flyweight Olympic champion to be challenging for world title belts in the not so distant future.
“I’m over the moon to secure the signature of Olympic gold medallist Galal Yafai and we welcome him with open arms to the Matchroom Boxing and DAZN team,” Hearn stated.
“Galal was the standout British fighter at the Games and we have a long-standing relationship with his brothers, so it was personally very important to me to get this done.
“Galal is going to do things very differently, for his professional debut at The O2 we are looking for him to challenge for his first professional title and from there move quickly to a world title which we expect him to win across multiple divisions.
"This young man is an exceptional talent and you are going to be able to watch him on the biggest shows all over the world live on DAZN.”
