Laila Ali *THE DAUGHTER OF THE GREATEST* SIGNED Adidas 8" x 6 3/4" promotional photo.

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Muhammad Ali vs Laila Ali

Laila Amaria Ali (born December 30, 1977) is a former professional boxer. She is the daughter of boxing legend Muhammad Ali and his third wife Veronica Porche Ali. Laila has a total of eight brothers and sisters. She has six sisters, (half-sisters) Rasheeda, Jamilla, Maryum, Miya, Khalilah and older sister Hana (born March 27, 1976 to Ali and mother Veronica), an author and poet. Her two brothers are half-brothers Muhammed, Jr. and Asaad. Laila's father, Muhammad Ali, is a retired three-time World heavyweight boxing champion. Laila's mother, Veronica Porsche Ali, is a former model.

Ali has a degree in business from Santa Monica College and previously owned a Balloon and Halloween mask shop in California before becoming a boxer. She is 5' 10" (1.78 m), with a reach of 70.4" , and weighs around 160 lbs US cosmetics company International Beauty Brands launched a line of cosmetics and haircare products using Laila Ali's name. She has three children: Kyla, Melana, and Savvanah.

Boxing Career
Laila Ali began her boxing career when she was 15 years old. When she first noticed women's boxing she was watching a Christy Martin fight. She first came out about the news on the morning show Good Morning America when interviewing with Diane Sawyer. On the show Ali quoted "I've been contemplating doing it since I was 18, ever since I found out that women boxed". When Laila first told her father, Muhammad Ali, that she was planning on pursing a boxing career he was not happy about her going into such a dangerous profession. But Laila explained to her father that she was going to box whether he liked it or not and that she was going to be very careful when she is in the ring. In her first match, on December 8, 1999, she boxed April Fowler of Michigan City, Indiana. They fought at the Turning Stone Casino Convention Center on the Oneida Indian Nation in Verona, New York. Although this was Laila's first match, many media and fans were there, the main reason being because she is Muhammad Ali's daughter.

Ali knocked out April Fowler in the first round. Ali also won her second match by a TKO with only 3 seconds left on the clock. In that match her opponent was Shadina Pennybaker who is from Pittsburgh. They fought at the Mountaineer Race Track in Chester, West Virginia. Laila 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. This match by Ali and Frazier was the first pay-for-view match by between two black women. During that match, Joe Frazier, Jackie Frazier's father, was there to watch his daughter fight. Muhammad Ali, Laila's father, was not there but her mother Veronica Ali was present to watch the fight.

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 unified the crown by adding the WIBA and IWBF belts with an eight-round TKO win over her division's other world champion, Valerie Mahfood, in Las Vegas. Mahfood and Laila Ali met in a long-awaited bout on November 8, 2002. A bloodied Mahfood was stopped by Ali in eight rounds in a fight that unified the IWBF world title with the WIBA title.

On June 21, 2003, Mahfood and Ali had a rematch, this time in Los Angeles. Once again bloodied by Ali, Mahfood lost by TKO in six while trying to recover her world title. But at the same time, for the first time in Ali's boxing career, she suffered a bad cut on her right eyelid and a bloodied nose, something no other female boxer has done to Ali to this day. Laila was left with a permanent scar as a reminder of that tough fight she had with Mahfood. On August 23, 2003, Ali fought Christy Martin, beating Martin by a knockout in four rounds.

On July 17, 2004, she retained her world title, knocking out Nikki Eplion in four rounds. Ali dropped Eplion four times before the fight was stopped. 30 July 2004, 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 cancelled a fight against) by a knockout in three rounds, at Atlanta, Georgia. Her success led her into a TV show guest star such as in a boxing episode of George Lopez.

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, Ali fought and defeated Åsa Sandell by TKO in the fifth round. The decision was heavily disputed. 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. 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 could not raise the final $1,325,000 installment of her $1,525,000 purse. The South African government is investigating the fraud allegations, according to an exposé in the Cape Times. Overall, Ali's boxing career brought a lot of attention to women's boxing.

Laila Ali was named by the International Boxing Association, Super MiddleWeight Champion in 2002. Was named by the Womans Association, Super Middleweight Champion in 2002. And lastly was named by the International Womans Boxing Fedn., Super Middleweight Champion in 2002.

Criticism
Other top women's boxing champions such as Ann Wolfe (24-1), Vonda Ward (23-1), Leatitia Robinson (15-1 pro; 37-1 am), and Natascha Ragosina (22-0) 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
In 2002 Ali wrote (with co-author David Ritz) the book Reach! Finding Strength, Spirit, and Personal Power, meant to motivate and inspire young people. In this book Laila discusses how she felt isolated at times because of her parents fame. Laila has also spent some time in jail. In the book Laila describes the physical abuse, stinks and arrests that she experienced in jail. Critics say that Laila's book has a good foundation to it but she does not give the readers advice in the book, rather she just talks about her own experiences. 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 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, 15-year-old twin sons Cameron and Kelton and 11-year-old Leilani. On August 26, 2008 Laila gave birth to her son, Curtis Muhammad Conway Jr. On September 29, 2010, Ali announced that she and Conway were expecting their second child together. Laila's interests include cooking and doing pilates to stay in shape.

Television
In spring 2002, Ali appeared in a boxing role for the music video "Deny" by Canadian hard rock band Default. The video gained airplay on music channels including MTV2 and MMUSA.

In 2004, Ali appeared on the show George Lopez, where she owned the Gym and had some lines.

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).

Ali is the new female host on the revival of American Gladiators alongside Hulk Hogan. The show premiered in January 2008. Laila and the cast of American Gladiators appeared on the new NBC Celebrity Family Feud.

Ali joined the CBS team as a contributing correspondent on The Early Show with her first appearance in early January 2008. Laila Ali hosted The N's Student Body, a reality show on The N.

Ali also appeared in a 2007 episode of Yo Gabba Gabba titled "Train" in a brief dance number.