Yesterday, Muhammed Ali's daughter Laila Ali faced Swedish boxer Åsa Sandell in Berlin. Ali has yet to lose a fight in her professional career (20+ matches), but against which opposition? Apparently there are only 32 professional boxers worldwide in her weight class, which means that you can lose all your matches and still be ranked in the top 30 in the world. Sandell works as an editor for the culture section in a newspaper and only keeps her boxing career going in her spare time, and yet she is ranked eighth in the world. Before she met Ali she had experienced five professional matches, of which three were won, one was lost and one ended in a draw. She was given two weeks to prepare for the fight against Ali.

And how did it go? Well, I didn't see the fight but according to several newspapers Sandell dominated in the ring and was in the lead in the fifth round. What happens then? Ali gets a couple of good hits in (which are actually a counterattack to some strong punches from Sandell just before), and the referee breaks off the match and declares Ali the winner. Sandell didn't fall, didn't even lose balance, and didn't receive a count. Ali was consequently booed by the entire audience which had initially been rooting for her, partly because of the presence of her father Mohammed.

There will most likely not be a rematch since, according to the promotion company Rock & Sock Production which arranged the fight, Ali is "a cowardly shit" and "never allows rematches", in order to protect herself against the possibility of further humiliation in case the very inexperienced opponents she picks actually turn out to be able to fight.

I personally think boxing in general is a stupid sport and this league in particular seems to be a farce, not only because the overall quality and experience of the boxers is so low, but because it only seems to be maintained so that Ali can have something to be on top of. The Ali Legend is thereby saved and the historians can happily write about the proud boxing tradition that was inhereted from father to daughter and perhaps on to granddaughter/grandson.


[Edited 12/18/05 7:29am]

Any boxing fans or boxing critics out there?

I hate boxing and don't know how anyone can put their face/body through that. I only ever watched Tyson as he is a freak show ..i remember he bit that guys ear.

I'm guessing you mean The Laila Ali Legend.
(not that she was ever legendary in the first place)

You certainly are not implying that anything she does in boxing has any bearing at all on Muhammed Ali's former career.
(most of which was legendary)

~ Raising the skill set in the heavyweight division
~ The initial dethroning of Sonny Liston
~ 3 great matches against Joe Frazier
~ Taking out the supposedly unbeatable George Foreman when Ali was well past his prime.

Now is she a beneficiary, in the world of boxing, because she's Ali's daughter?
Most definitely. But that's the cesspool of boxing promotion and has nothing to do with Muhammed Ali personally.


tA


Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

I like boxing and I think Muhammed Ali is an amazing man, not just for what he achieved in boxing but also for the way he has lived his life.

I don't know much about his daughter, nor do I really care.

theAudience said:

That's the thing; since Muhammed was such a legend everybody wants Laila to continue that tradition. They want to be able to say that "Oh yeah, those Alis are incredible, I mean she couldn't have failed with such a fantastic father. It's impossible". This is why she (and referees and many others) is so protective of her flawless record; she wouldn't want to soil the "invincible" impression of the Ali family in the public eye (especially since Muhammed helps with her coaching) and thereby risk that some of her failure would somehow rub off on her father's "magical aura" in the collective consciousness. It must indeed feel like tremendous pressure for her, as is the case with many other famous people's kids that decide to go into their parent's line of business.

retina said:

I'm not sure how many people, outside of the leeching promoters, take Lailah's boxing career (and Women's Boxing in general) seriously in the first place.

And yes, it must be very difficult to following in the footsteps of an extremely great and publicly well loved family member.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

retina said:

Actually, no one wants Laila to "continue that tradition". And no one is protective of her "flawless" record. To most of those in the boxing world, Laila Ali is an afterthought, mainly because her competition sucks and she won't step up to fight her two biggest threats, Anne Wolf and Letitia (forget her last name). There's no great love for Laila, as her personality isn't the warmest. Also, her father does not have a hand in her training - her soon-to-be ex-husband, Johnny "YaYa' McClain covers that end of the spectrum. The main problem with women's boxing is the lack of skilled fighters and the vast size differentials between the ones who do have skill. Hence, the Laila Ali-Christy Martin mismatch, in which Laila outweighed her opponent by more than a few pounds. Until Laila steps it up, she will just continue to elicit sighs from the boxing world.