Laila Ali

Laila Ali (born December 30, 1977 in Miami Beach, Florida) is a professional boxer. She 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.

Ali has a degree in business from Santa Monica College and previously owned a nail salon in California before becoming a boxer. She is 1.78 m, with a reach of 1.79 m, and weighs around 76 kg.

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 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.