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By Chuck Johnson, USA TODAY
Born into the trappings of fame, Laila Ali readily acknowledges that her career and lifestyle have benefited from being an heir to "The Greatest."
But bloodlines aside, the youngest daughter of legendary former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali has made her own mark inside the ring. If she's the undisputed face of women's boxing, it's because Laila Ali has built an impressive body of work. The unbeaten super middleweight champion is 23-0 with 20 knockouts and ranked the No. 1 female fighter in the world. "Obviously the Ali name is going to bring attention, but it takes a lot more than a name to succeed in this sport," says Ali, 29, who defends her title Feb. 3 in Capetown, South Africa against Gwendolyn O'Neill (12-4-1, seven KOs) of Guyana. "People want to see my fights because I've done a good job in the ring." But while she's content in her private life and anticipates starting a family this year with her fiance, former NFL wide receiver Curtis Conway, Laila admits she's growing impatient without a real challenge in her boxing career. She yearns for a career-defining fight that can only come against an equally top-notch opponent. Her own Joe Frazier, if you will. "I'm at the point now where I'm really frustrated with the way things are going," Ali says. "I would have thought I would have fought the top girls by now." The problem, Ali says, is that the top contenders in her weight class have refused to fight her unless they get paid a lot of money. "Everybody kind of looks at me as this cash cow," she says. "I don't blame anybody for wanting to make money. But a lot of these competitive fights that I want haven't happened because these girls don't want to get in unless they make a million dollars." Nonsense, says the most prominent would-be opponent, Ann Wolfe (24-1, 16 KOs). Known as the hardest puncher in women's boxing, the Austin, Texas-based fighter says she's tried several times to reach agreement on a fight with Ali, but to no avail. "I truly think Laila doesn't want to fight me," says Wolfe, a single mother of two daughters. "I don't think she's scared, but I think she knows there's a possibility that she'll get knocked smooth out. She knows, in either hand, I can knock her unconcious." Wolfe, who was homeless before pulling herself up through boxing, admits that money has been a sticking issue. "I would be a fool to fight Laila and get $50,000 or $100,000, and she gets $2 million," she says. Laila Ali makes no apologies for her leverage, which she feels she's earned. In a sport known for brutality more than glamour, it has helped her popularity that the statuesque 5-10, 168-pounder has a supermodel presence to go with her ferocity and skills as fighter. She's had endorsement deals with Dr. Pepper, Ford Motor Company and Bum Equipment, and was featured sparring against her famous dad, who turned 65 Wednesday, in a special effects TV commercial, touting the "Impossible Is Nothing" slogan for adidas. "Laila Ali is a dedicated, confident and completely modern role model for athletes across all sports and regardless of gender," says Eric Liedtke, senior vice president of global brand marketing for adidas, which recently extended her contract. "Her strength and engagement with the world make her a dynamic asset." Ali just completed a workout video with former boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard that's due out in April. She's also been photographed on the covers of numerous magazines and has dabbled in acting with guest appearances on TV. But those opportunities, she says, are rooted in her dedication to the fight game. "I've been offered all different types of things, but my thing is to stay focused and concentrate on boxing," she says. Describing herself as never one to follow someone else's compass, Ali's headstrong ways sometime led her into trouble as a youngster. At 16, she was busted for shoplifting and another legal scrape landed her a three-month stint in a juvenile detention hall. "I always wanted to grow up too fast," she says. "I was already looking to the future. 'How am I going to support myself?.' I wanted to be independent, so I was going to school and doing nails at 12 to make my own money." Laila has eight siblings, but only she and older sister Hana were born to the former champion's ex-wife, Veronica Porsche Anderson. She appreicates that her parents have been supportive and attend many of her fights. "My dad and I are built a lot alike, but the main thing I got from him is my confidence," says Laila, who also got her nickname "She Bee Stingin' " from her dad's well-known refrain 'Float Like a Butterfly and Sting Like a Bee.' "As far as boxing skills, I'm more of a fighter than my dad was. He was more of a showman. I like to get my opponents out of there." Her determination to suceed, Laila says, comes from her mom, who she admires for going back to school and currently working toward her doctorate degree in psychology. "She's always been a very focused person who goes after what she wants," Laila says. Until eight years ago, Laila owned and operated a nail salon in California and was headed to the University of Southern California Business School after earning a degree in busines management from Santa Monica College. Her career goals changed when she saw a women's bout on TV for the first time." "I've always had this fighting spirit and team sports never really appealed to me," she says. "I kind of like knowing that all I have to do is depend on me So when I saw women boxing for the first time on television, it was right up my alley." Managed by her then husband, Laila, who has since divorced, made her pro boxing debut to much fanfare on October 8, 1999 with a 31-second knockout of April Fowler, the first of seven consecutive KOs. She was 15-0 when she assumed the mantle as women's boxing's biggest star. In August, 2003, she dominated Christy "The Coal Miner's Daughter" Martin, who until that time had been widely publicized as the "pound-for-pound" best female fighter in the sport. Before a crowd of 10,000 in Biloxi, Miss., Ali stopped the more experienced Martin in the fourth round after putting her on the mat for the first time in 50 professional fights. Two years earlier, Ali had put herself on the boxing map by beating Jackie Frazier-Lyde. The victory by unanimous decision against Joe Frazier's daughter was the first time a women's bout was the main event of a pay-per-view card and was billed as Ali-Frazier IV, alluding to the epic trilogy waged between their fathers. Ali attributes "60 per cent " of her popularity to her dad's legacy as a fighter and humantiarian and the other 40 per cent to herself. But not everyone thinks she's taken the sport to the next level. "For some reason, people didn't connect with her like they did with me," Martin says. "I think people looked at me kind of like I could be the next-door neighbor. But maybe they still look at Laila Ali as still just Muhammad Ali's daughter. But she is the one who sells the tickets. That's what the other girls have to realize." Kery Davis, senior vice president of programming for HBO Sports, observes that one celebrated fighter hasn't been enough to make women's boxing a must-see sport. He says there's too much talent disparity and not enough depth among their ranks. "The reality is that at this moment women's boxing is an immature sport," Davis says. "We're monitoring it and there's no paper policy ban that we will never do a women's fight. But right now the sport lacks the kind of foundation that can assure quaility matchups over a consistent period of time." Ali vociferously protested when HBO declined to televise her fight against Shelly Burton in November on the undercard of Wladirmir Klitschko-CalvinBrock heavyweight title fight at Madison Square Garden. The network did show highlights of Ali's lopsided TKO victory, "and maybe that was a breakthrough," Ali says. She remains proud that she's played a part in the public's awareness of women's boxing. "Before I started, a lot of people didn't know women could even fight," she says. "I also changed the idea that for a woman to fight you have to be gay or rough or ugly. Whether it's competitively, or boxing aerobics or boxing on video, there's a lot more women being drawn into the sport these days, and I take a lot of credit for that." Ali says she plans to take a break for at least a year after her February fight. Her hope is that the top opponents will be ready to fight when she returns and she puts Wolfe and Leatitia Robinson (15-0, 9KOs) at the top of that list. "They don't to want to fight me, so they can fight each other and see how much money and publicity they get without me in the picture," she says. "I'm just letting them know I'm not going to be around forever. Maybe, they'll be ready to fight by the time I come back."
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