Laila Ali
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| Laila Ali | |
| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Real name | Laila Ali |
| Nickname | She bee Stingin |
| Weight | Super Middleweight |
| Nationality |  American |
| Birth date | December 30, 1977 |
| Birth place | Miami Beach, Florida, USA |
| Style | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 24 |
| Wins | 24 |
| Wins by KO | 21 |
| Losses | 0 |
| Draws | 0 |
| No contests | 0 |
Laila Ali (born December 30, 1977), the daughter of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, is a professional boxer who holds multiple world titles. One of her fights became the first ever women's boxing match to be the main draw of a Pay Per View event. She is also one of the contestants on the American version of Dancing with the Stars.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Laila Ali was born December 30, 1977 in Miami Beach, to 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.
To much fanfare, she made her debut on October 8, 1999, knocking out April Fowler in the first round. She rallied off 8 wins in a row, and many among boxing's fans started talking about wanting to see her and George Foreman's daughter, Freeda Foreman, or Joe Frazier's daughter, Jackie Frazier-Lyde square off in a boxing ring. On the evening of June 8, 2001, Ali and Frazier finally met, in a fight that became the first time a women's boxing fight was the main event of a Pay Per View event in history, a fight which was also nicknamed Ali/Frazier IV in allusion to their fathers' famous fight trilogy, and fight which was part of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame induction weekend's activities. Ali won by judge's decision.
Ali won by an eight-round majority decision, and then took off almost one year, returning 364 days later, to beat Shirvelle Williams by a six-round decision. She won the IBA title with a two-round knockout of Suzzette Taylor, on August 17 at Las Vegas, and on November 9, she retained that title and added the WIBA and IWBF belts, by unifying the crown with an eight-round knockout win over her division's other world champion, Valerie Mahfood in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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.
Laila Ali would have begun 2004 by fighting Gwendolyn O'Neil of Guyana, at Abuja, Nigeria. The fight was cancelled, 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 after four rounds. Ali dropped Eplion four times before the fight was stopped.
Thirteen days later, she stopped Monica Nunez in nine rounds, as part of the undercard where Mike Tyson was surprisingly knocked out by fringe contender Danny Williams,in her father's native city of Louisville, Kentucky.
On September 24, 2004, she added the IWBF Light Heavyweight title to her resume by beating O'Neal, the fighter against whom she had had to cancel a fight previously, by a knockout in three rounds, at Atlanta, Georgia.
Returning to Atlanta on February 11, 2005, Laila Ali scored a commanding and decisive eighth round technical knockout over Cassandra Geigger, in a scheduled 10-round fight.
On June 11, 2005, as the undercard in the Tyson-Kevin McBride fight, Laila Ali pounded Erin Toughill into submission in round three to remain undefeated, and became the second woman to win a World Boxing Council title (Jackie Nava was the first), in addition to defending her WIBA crown. Erin was outclassed in 1:59 of the third round. Toughill, her face bleeding profusely, took approximately 20 consecutive punches in her corner, before referee Joseph Cooper stepped in to end the fight.
On December 17, 2005, in Berlin, Germany, 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 would be looking forward to fight Ann Wolfe on an October 2006 date. The fight with Ann Wolfe never materialized and instead on November 11, 2006 Laila fought and defeated Shelley Burton by TKO in the fourth round.
On February 3rd, 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa Laila Ali wasted little time in retaining her WBC and WIBA world titles, knocking out Gwendolyn O'Neil of Guyana at 56 seconds of the first round Saturday in their super middleweight fight.
The 29-year-old daughter of boxing great Muhammad Ali headlined the first women's professional boxing match in South Africa. She improved to 24-0 with 21 knockouts
Ali was supposed to fight Gwendolyn O’Neil in Cape Town, South Africa, on August 5, 2006, but she pulled out amidst allegations of fraud. In addition, the local promoter couldn't raise the final $325,000 installment of her $525,000 purse. The SA government is investigating the fraud allegations, according to an exposé in the Sunday Times newspaper - web links 'Reports of my death are grossly exaggerated'
Laila did fight O'Neil in February 2007, knocking her out in the first round.[1] [2]
[edit] Dancing with the Stars
On February 20, 2007, the ABC television network announced that Laila would be a participant in its Spring 2007 Dancing with the Stars reality show. She is partnered with Maksim Chmerkovskiy. [3] She has stated that her father, a Muslim, has some concerns about the skimpy costumes that she will be wearing, but that he will probably be attending at least one of the shows.[4]
[edit] Trivia
- Laila Ali is currently dating former professional football player Curtis Conway.
- She stands 5' 10 with a reach of 70.5”.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Valerie Mahfood |
2nd IWBF World Super Middleweight Champion November 8, 2002 – Present |
Succeeded by Current |
| 2nd WIBA World Super Middleweight Champion November 8, 2002 – Present |
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| Preceded by Inaugural champion |
1st WBC Female World Super Middleweight Champion November 11, 2006 – Present |
Succeeded by Current |
