Don't post here often. Question

[TheGumby]

So with the passing of Muhammad Ali I Googled his daughter to see what ever became of her. Impressive she retired undefeated. Was she any good? I read she hand picked a lot of people? Interesting to see the greatest's daughter also have such an impressive record.

 

[MC Paul Barman]

So with the passing of Muhammad Ali I Googled his daughter to see what ever became of her. Impressive she retired undefeated. Was she any good? I read she hand picked a lot of people? Interesting to see the greatest's daughter also have such an impressive record.

She had better looking technique in there than most I've seen.

 

[TheGumby]

That's cool that she was also so great. Few articles I read said she ducked a lot of fighters just didn't know how much truth was behind those statements.

 

[DaveDave]

Not to be a curmudgeon (hey, I am a curmudgeon!) I'd seriously take issue with "great".

There wasn't enough depth in her sport at the time for her to establish a "great"'s record. She also got fed a lot of hideously over-matched, much much much much smaller women (which, because the talent pool is that much more shallow, is kinda natural in women's boxing, but in her case it was exacerbated by the fact that as sparse as the field in women's boxing is, when you're as big as Laila there's even less competition) & she certainly never attempted to face all-comers, preferring to take on shitty "celebrity" names like Christy Martin (imagine Sergei Kovalev deciding he wants to fight Arturo Gatti. After the Thomas Damgaard fight. Yeah) & not-really-a-professional-fighter-but-guess-who-my-dad-was Jacqui Frazier, who was not only a novice basketball player but also 40.

So yeah. A nice-looking puncher. But "Great" is not only pushing it, it's almost ridonkulous.

PS: Just so everyone knows where I'm coming from on this issue: from the same time-frame (& indeed all-time) the only woman's boxer I'd say was anywhere near "great" was Lucia Rijker. Most of that greatness was attained through kick-boxing & Muay Thai, but the way she rolled over everyone made me think "Okay, girl knows how to fight."

She was half Ali's size, & Martin never went near her (which is good for Martin, 'cos Rijker would've killed her).

 

[tehmvp]

Not to be a curmudgeon (hey, I am a curmudgeon!) I'd seriously take issue with "great".

There wasn't enough depth in her sport at the time for her to establish a "great"'s record. She also got fed a lot of hideously over-matched, much much much much smaller women (which, because the talent pool is that much more shallow, is kinda natural in women's boxing, but in her case it was exacerbated by the fact that as sparse as the field in women's boxing is, when you're as big as Laila there's even less competition) & she certainly never attempted to face all-comers, preferring to take on shitty "celebrity" names like Christy Martin (imagine Sergei Kovalev deciding he wants to fight Arturo Gatti. After the Thomas Damgaard fight. Yeah) & not-really-a-professional-fighter-but-guess-who-my-dad-was Jacqui Frazier, who was not only a novice basketball player but also 40.

So yeah. A nice-looking puncher. But "Great" is not only pushing it, it's almost ridonkulous.

PS: Just so everyone knows where I'm coming from on this issue: from the same time-frame (& indeed all-time) the only woman's boxer I'd say was anywhere near "great" was Lucia Rijker. Most of that greatness was attained through kick-boxing & Muay Thai, but the way she rolled over everyone made me think "Okay, girl knows how to fight."

She was half Ali's size, & Martin never went near her (which is good for Martin, 'cos Rijker would've killed her).

There was also Ann Wolf, who I think was Ali's size.

 

[mozfonky]

women's fighting was an exotic thing, not really that deep a playing field and I wouldn't consider any woman a "great" boxer. She might have been one of the top ones though, sure. Lucia Rijker was a good fighter but most of them were amateurs.

 

[nastyleft]

Laila Ali was pretty good, actually very very good, but as mentioned already was so much bigger than most of the girls she fought she never really was tested by anyone. She put on a nice display and stomped girls outta there.
Never fought Ann Wolfe, who hit like a truck had good skills and was the same size, (many thought her handlers intentionally kept her away from Wolfe), and although she was smaller I always thought Lucia Rijker was good enough to beat her. Look them up on YouTube. I'd say Rijker is the best woman boxer I've ever seen, pissed me off to see her get her ass kicked in "million dollar baby".

 

[SuperLuigi]

She ducked Rijker, who was a better fighter. Some also say that her early retirement was a duck of Holly Holm.