AP News, January 30th, 2007
Former South African president Nelson Mandela offered his support Tuesday to Laila Ali, four days before she becomes the first female fighter to headline a boxing card in the country.
Mandela, an amateur fighter in his youth, asked for the meeting with the 29-year-old daughter of former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali.
Laila Ali defends her WBC and IBF super-middleweight titles against Guyana's Gwendolyn O'Neil on Saturday at Emperor's Palace casino in Johannesburg.
"It is an honor that she should come here and we wish her good luck in the fight," said Mandela, his arm around Ali. "We will be next to her in the ring, if not physically then spiritually."
It's not the first meeting between Laila Ali and Mandela, who has maintained a friendship with her father.
"Mr. Mandela has a lot of respect for my father as my father has for him," she said. "When he is holding my hand and walking on his cane, he reminds me so much of my own father. He is like family. I am very honored to be here today. I wasn't expecting it."
The two met privately at the offices of the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton.
Laila Ali, who met with Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela on a tour of Soweto last week, said South Africa's first black president had "said some inspiring words" for her and reaffirmed his support for her career.
"He kept going on about my dad and I said: 'You are a great man, too.' He said: 'I don't know about that that.' I told him that's the same thing my dad says. He is a very humble man," she said.
