‘There Was a Lot of Dysfunction in My Childhood’: Muhammad Ali’s Daughter Laila Ali Opens Up on How ‘Anger’ Helped Her Become World Champion Boxer

Laila Ali, the former two-weight division world champion, underwent a very incredible journey to pave her way to the top of female boxing. Her story of becoming a world champion boxer is full of ups and downs. Starting late, Ali had to face a lot of resistance. Initially, her father widely regarded as the greatest fighter of all time, did not allow her to pursue her boxing dream.

He used to consider boxing as a man’s sport. But things changed when his determined daughter proved him wrong. Despite all her struggles, she went on to win WBC, WIBA, IWBF, and IBA female super middleweight titles. She also held the IWBF belt in the light heavyweight division. Talking about her success story, Ali gave her take on how she channelized her anger to become a fighter.

In an interview with Dr. Marissa Pei, Ali said, “It’s not that you simply can just be mad and become an undefeated world champion. It’s not that simple but um I think that we all have our story and our background and all of the things that happen in our life that allowed us to become the person that we are. And growing up, you know, there’s a lot of dysfunction in my childhood.”

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Ali claimed that boxing was in her blood, but success came with a rage. The rage has it’s roots in her childhood.

What dysfunction Laila Ali came across in her childhood?

The 44-year-old stated that there is a certain mindset that comes with a fighter to fight for a living. Her mindset was the result of a lot of anger inside. The anger flourished because of her family issues.

According to Ali, her father was traveling around the world, so obviously he wasn’t home. On the other hand, her mother got remarried and went into some bad relationships. Since they were unhappy, she was also unhappy. This had a very adverse effect on her upbringing.

She started rebelling. Being ambitious, the strong-minded Ali claimed that she raised herself the way she wanted to because there was no one around who really focused on her.

What do you think of Ali’s struggle? Was it really anger that led her to become a boxer? Let us know in the comments below.

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