Looking at her petite, athletic frame, it’s hard to believe that Ramla Ali took up boxing because she lacked body confidence. Now 31 – and victorious from her debut professional fight last November – Ali first discovered the sport via boxercise classes aged 12. “I was quite an overweight child, and it was a way to help with my self-confidence and to look at my body in a positive light,” she says. “To begin with, it wasn’t anything to do with the sport, but everything to do with my perception of my physical appearance, and it gave me the confidence I so desperately needed to grow into a woman.”