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Laila Ali's Biography
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Laila Ali (born December 30, 1977 in Miami Beach,
Florida) is the daughter of Muhammad Ali and his third
wife Veronica Porsche Ali. She was their second child
and is the most famous of the nine children born to
Muhammad Ali. She is a professional boxer.
Ali has a degree in business from Santa Monica College
and previously owned a nail salon in California before
becoming a boxer. She is 1.78m, with a reach of 1.79m,
and weighs around 76 kg. |
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boxing career
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In her first bout, on December 8, 1999, Ali knocked
out April Fowler in the first round. She ran off eight
wins in a row and many boxing fans started talking about
wanting to see her square off in a boxing ring with
George Foreman's daughter, Freeda Foreman, or Joe
Frazier's daughter, Jackie Frazier-Lyde. On the evening
of June 8, 2001, Ali and Frazier finally met. The fight
was nicknamed Ali/Frazier IV in allusion to their
fathers' famous fight trilogy. Ali won by a majority
judges' decision in eight rounds.
After a year's hiatus, on June 7, 2002 Ali beat
Shirvelle Williams in a six-round decision. She won the
IBA title with a second-round knockout of Suzette Taylor
on August 17 in Las Vegas. On November 9, she retained
that title and by unified the crown by adding the WIBA
and IWBF belts with an eight-round knockout win over her
division's other world champion, Valerie Mahfood, in Las
Vegas.
On June 21, 2003, Ali retained the title in a rematch
with Mahfood, knocking her out in six rounds. It was
announced on June 30, that she would fight Christy
Martin on August 23. She beat Martin by a knockout in
four rounds.
Ali was to begin 2004 by fighting Gwendolyn O'Neil of
Guyana at Abuja, Nigeria. The fight was canceled,
however, when Ali's camp learned no airline had flights
scheduled to Nigeria on the date she wanted to arrive
there.
On July 17 of that year, she retained her world title,
knocking out Nikki Eplion in four rounds. Ali dropped
Eplion four times before the fight was stopped.
Thirteen days later, she stopped Monica Nunez in nine
rounds, in her father's native city of Louisville. This
fight was part of the undercard for the fight in which
Mike Tyson was surprisingly knocked out by fringe
contender Danny Williams
On September 24, 2004, she added the IWBF Light
Heavyweight title to her resume by beating O'Neil (whom
she had canceled a fight against) by a knockout in three
rounds, at Atlanta, Georgia. On February 1, 2005 in
Atlanta, Ali scored a commanding and decisive eighth
round technical knockout over Cassandra Geigger in a
ten-round fight.
On June 11, 2005, on the undercard to the Tyson-Kevin
McBride fight, Ali pounded Erin Toughill into submission
in round three to remain undefeated, and won the World
Boxing Council title in addition to defending her WIBA
crown. (The Ali-Toughill bout is considered one of the
most violent female to female fights in history.) She
was the second woman to win a WBC title (Jackie Nava was
the first). Toughill and Ali disliked each other, and
prior to the fight Toughill joked about Ali. Ali
promised she would punish Toughill, much like her father
did with Ernie Terrell back in 1967.
On December 17, 2005, in Berlin, Laila fought and
defeated Åsa Sandell by TKO in the fifth round, marking
her 22nd win. The decision was heavily disputed however,
and the audience booed Ali during her post-fight
interview. While a guest on Quite Frankly with Stephen
A. Smith on June 7, 2006, Ali announced that she would
be making a world tour, and said that she was looking
forward to fighting Ann Wolfe on an October 2006 date.
The fight with Wolfe never materialized. Instead, on
November 11, 2006, Ali fought and defeated Shelley
Burton by TKO in the fourth round.
On February 3, 2007 in Johannesburg, Ali retained her
WBC and WIBA super middleweight world titles, knocking
out Gwendolyn O'Neil at 56 seconds of the first round.
Ali headlined the first women's professional boxing
match in South Africa. She improved to 24-0.
Ali was supposed to fight O’Neil again in Cape Town, on
August 5, 2006, but she pulled out amid allegations of
fraud. In addition, the local promoter couldn't raise
the final $325,000 installment of her $525,000 purse.
The South African government is investigating the fraud
allegations, according to an exposé in the Cape Times.
Laila did fight O'Neil in February 2007, knocking her
out in the first round.
Criticism
Other top women's boxing champions such as Ann Wolfe
{24-1), Vonda Ward (22-1), Leatitia Robinson (15-0 pro;
37-1 am), and Ragosina (15-0) have claimed in interviews
that they have challenged Laila Ali many times over the
years, but Laila has always found ways of avoiding them.
Boxing writers and fans have repeatedly expressed
disappointment in Ali's failure to fight the top
contenders over the years.
Personal life
The second-youngest of Muhammad Ali's nine children,
Ali married Johnny "Yahya" McClain on August 27, 2000.
She met McClain through her sister Hana at her father's
57th birthday party. McClain became Ali's manager and
helped guide her career. In 2002 she wrote (with
co-author David Ritz) the book Reach! Finding Strength,
Spirit, and Personal Power, meant to motivate and
inspire young women. In late 2005 Ali and McClain
divorced and McClain quit managing Ali. On July 23,
2007, Ali married former NFL player Curtis Conway in Los
Angeles. Laila has three stepchildren with Conway,
twelve-year-old twin sons Cameron and Kelton and
eight-year-old Leilani.In People Magazine, Laila Ali did
report she does not follow her father's religion but
respects it.
Dancing with the Stars
In mid-2007, Ali was a participant in the fourth
season of the American version of the television show
Dancing with the Stars. She had no previous dancing
experience. Her professional dancing partner was Maksim
Chmerkovskiy. The pair were widely praised by the
judges, receiving the first "10" from judge Len Goodman
for their rumba. They came in third place in the
competition, losing to Apolo Anton Ohno (with Julianne
Hough) and Joey Fatone (with Kym Johnson).
American Gladiators
Laila is the new female host on the revival of
American Gladiators alongside Hulk Hogan. The show
premiered in January 2008.
The Early Show
Laila also has joined the CBS team as a contributing
correspondent on The Early Show with her first
appearance in early January 2008. |
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Copyright 2008 Laila Ali. All right reserved. web designer: xtracoolit |
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