Ali's charm wows SA public

2007-02-01 14:41

Johannesburg - Unbeaten world champion boxer Laila Ali is wowing South Africa with a charm offensive, invoking two living legends: her father Mohammed Ali and Nelson Mandela.

The spunky 29-year-old, who has not lost a fight since she turned professional in 1999, arrived some 10 days ago for her title bout against Guyanese fighter Gwendolyn O'Neil in Johannesburg on Saturday night.

Ali, who easily alternates between her two avatars of menacing boxer and glamour girl has carefully chosen her public appearances before the match including a visit to a school in Soweto, a township emblematic of the anti-apartheid struggle.

She also met Mandela, one of the world's favourite elder statesman and an anti-apartheid icon, and his former wife Winnie in separate visits.

"He is such a great man. I put him on the same level as my father which I don't really do for many men," Ali said, adding that it was not the first time she had met with the 88-year-old Nobel laureate, South Africa's first black president.

"When I am holding his hand, he reminds me so much of my old father, it's the same energy that I get from him. He is like family," she said.

Mandela, who was an avid boxer in the 1950s in Soweto, has always professed his admiration for Mohammed Ali, whose exploits he followed even as a prisoner at Robben Island, a notorious South African jail housing mainly political detainees.

Mohammed Ali, who was the dominant heavyweight boxer of the 1960s and 70s but is now suffering from Parkinson's disease, is for his part an ardent Mandela fan.

"Our children and future generations need to understand that Mandela is not just another person learned about in history books. He boldly, and quite literally, changed history," Ali had said in a written tribute.

Laila Ali has not only inherited her father's boxing talents but his braggadocio as well.

"Obviously, I get my confidence from my father. I have the same blood running through my veins... that's what my opponents find out every time," she said.

And she is not coy about what will happen on Saturday night.

"Winnie Mandela has asked me to get her out of there by the third round. I would personally like to get her out of there by the second round," she said.

"Last time, she underestimated me. She ended up on her bum."

Mandela, meanwhile, displayed his characteristic self-deprecatory humour when asked if he had any advice for the young star.

"I was a fighter many, many years ago so it's better for me to keep quiet," he said.

- AFP