Laila Ali: I have a bittersweet relationship with boxing

By Jeff Zimmerman
Photos: Courtesy of Laila Ali

Laila Ali did the unthinkable. She took up a sport that didn’t give much respect to women, if any, and did so under the brightest of lights as the daughter of The Greatest, Muhammad Ali.

Ali fought from 1999-2007 and would have fought longer, but as she says, there wasn’t enough competition.

“I have a bittersweet relationship with boxing because I was in a weight class that just didn’t have much talent to choose from because women naturally are not usually 168lbs,” Ali said. “When I was 168lbs, I was a strong, lean 168 and a lot of these girls that were at 168 just hadn’t trained down to the size they needed to be, so they were not physically strong enough for me. Boxing is all about weight classes for a reason. And the girls that would have been, I felt, competitive fights, I could never make fight me.”She just also dispelled the notion that circulated during her career that she avoided certain fighters.

“It was always the rumor that I wouldn’t fight them, but it definitely wasn’t the case, because one thing I am is someone who has the desire to fight the best, because I think you can only be as good as the people you actually fight. For my career to have ended, because there just wasn’t anybody left, I wasn’t necessarily ready to retire but I didn’t want to keep trying to fight and train at an elite level.”

“And being Muhammad Ali’s daughter, having that blood running through my veins, having the attention, focus and desire, everything it took within me and the best trainers with Roger and Floyd and Buddy, I had everything I needed except the opponents to keep me inspired.”Ali particularly wanted to set the record straight on Ann Wolfe, a mega fight that was never made.

“Then you got like Ann Wolfe, who me and her should have fought, never had the opportunity to fight and that was something that kept me up at night for years, something I had to get over, nothing I could do about that. The reports will tell you I didn’t want to fight her but that wasn’t actually the case, so what can you do.”

So what Ali did was fight and she did it well. She retired undefeated with a record of 24-0, 22 KOs and won multiple titles where she held the IBA, WIBA, IWBF and WBC super-middleweight title as well as the IWBF light heavyweight championship at various points in her career.

She was also the face of woman’s boxing for close to a decade in the early 2000’s and for those reasons, she will be inducted to the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame (www.nvbhof.com) Saturday, Aug. 18 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. The hall of fame is a non-profit that was founded in 2013 by former sportscaster Rich Marotta to help fighters and boxing related causes throughout the state.

She will join her father, The Greatest, Muhammad Ali, who was inducted in 2015.

“He would have definitely been proud,” Ali said. “ I remember when I first told him I want to box and he tried to talk me out of it [she laughs], so I think he was just scared for me of course, like most people didn’t know anything about woman’s boxing and didn’t believe I would be able to do it and of course throughout my career we had conversations about it and he told me he was wrong and he was brought to tears.”

“So I think that it would be a realization moment for himself and for the generation that he came from of what in his mind and other men’s mind, the people’s mind and even women about themselves what they can accomplish, so all of that would kind of come into play, outside of him just being proud of me as an athlete, being my dad.”

Ali has succeeded outside the ring as well, and like her father previously, has used her platform to help others. Her focus has centered around a having a healthy lifestyle.

“I definitely grew a passion for living a healthy lifestyle, encouraging others to do the same, considering we have an epidemic in our country with diabetes, heart disease and obesity,” Ali said. “It has really inspired me to use my platform to help and encourage others, so I started the Laila Ali lifestyle brand, my blog LailaAliLifeStyle.com and getting ready to come out with a nutrition line. And I have my own spice blend line just to support my cooking passion plus I have my Cookbook for Life.”

“So that’s the entrepreneurial spirit in me that will be there as far as starting my own businesses and products. I also host a show on OWN, Oprah Winfrey’s network which comes on every Saturday which is called Home Made Simple, just doing my thing.”

“And being a mom is obviously my main focus, got two young children and want to be hands on with them. I’m happy that I was able to box, get that out of the way, get that out of my system young, before I had children.”

Ali was also happy to see NBA superstar Lebron James give back to his community and open a public school recently in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, but nobody will ever be quite like her dad and that’s ok.

“Well first of all I never expect anyone to be like my father. There can only be one Muhammad Ali in our lifetime I believe,” Ali said. There are just some people that are like that. I think it’s great being inspired by him, but he was chosen and a very special individual and not everyone can even begin to be like dad. He was just unlike anybody else.”“So I would say that’s one thing, but people like Lebron he’s going to start his own legacy and I know he said that he has been inspired by my dad, he has so much more money than my dad had so he is able to do what he is doing and make his mark on the world and give back to society which I think is absolutely amazing, because when you have all those millions of dollars it’s like ok that’s great, but what are you going to do with it to make a change.”

Ali continued, “He obviously has something within him and the right team around him to help him bring something like a school to fruition and I think it’s going to definitely make a big impact on the world, African American community. I am glad he is doing it. I wish more people would. I will say that even though you can’t necessarily be like Muhammad Ali these are different times. My father was forced, it was brought out of him, all that greatness that was within him. They were trying to force him to go to war and do different things. It was just a different time and different set of circumstances.”

Being an Ali, in addition to being a humanitarian, means boxing will always be in your blood.

Ali keeps up on the sport, especially the woman and see’s it in a good place. Claressa Shields, 2X world champion and 2X Olympic gold medalist, is someone she has paid close attention to among others.

“I have always been happy for Claressa. She has a lot of experience, more experience than I had coming in as a pro having like 80 fights under her belt,” said Ali. Now she can start refining her actual skills, now that she’s pro. You definitely have that pressure on you when you’re one of the faces of woman’s boxing and I just think it’s an exciting time.”

“You got other women who are also getting some life and a stage to perform on like Katie Taylor who I am super impressed with out of Ireland, she also won the Olympics and she’s like one of the best I have ever seen as a female boxer. I am really excited for her and Cecilia Braekhus from Europe who came out here and was one of the first women to fight on HBO which tickled me, because I remember when I was boxing they said they don’t show women boxing.”

On the men’s side, she has her favorites there as well.

“I like fighters like Crawford, Errol Spence, GGG and some of these up an coming guys with a lot of talent, obviously a different talent than the Sugar Rays, but our heavyweight division, luckily we have some guys out there that are causing a little bit of excitement but we have to continue, like once those fights happen, what’s next,” Ali said. “We constantly have to keep our eye out for new, upcoming fighters, it can’t be all about one or two names anymore.”

Ali is excited for her induction and is thrilled to be going with an exceptional class that includes “Sugar” Shane Mosely and Chris Byrd among other greats.

“Yep I remember Chris Byrd and his sister Tracy Byrd, so many amazing women too from back in the day that will hopefully eventually be inducted but it’s wonderful,” Ali said. There is so many excellent fighters out there and there are the ones just like with any other sport, there are the ones that have the big names, stood out for whatever reason, their style, just so many and they all worked just as hard and loved the sport just as much and had the same blood, sweat and tears as everybody else.”

“So, it’s nice to see them get recognition. I mean Chris Byrd was such a talented fighter and Shane Mosely, he’s absolutely one of the best. I think that these guys now in that weight class could have never stood up to like a Shane, a Sugar Ray, an Oscar de la Hoya back in their heydays. It was just a whole different level of game so it’s nice to see them inducted and of course for me I mentioned I had a bittersweet career and just being Muhammad Ali’s daughter, you hear the ones oh she just had a name, but the people that were really around Vegas that watched me train, watched me spar, they know the real deal so I am excited to come back home to Vegas and be inducted.”

“It always feels good to be honored for something that you work so hard at, put in so many hours and dedication into by your peers, so it will be amazing especially being that my father is in the same hall of fame along with so many fighters that came before me.”

And if there was any question on whether Ali has moved on from what she described as her “bittersweet career”, she said something that felt very similar to her dad’s famous quote, “I am The Greatest.”

“I was unbeatable, and it will always be that way.”