The daughter of boxing legend Muhammad Ali and former female middleweight champion Laila Ali is one of the few who reached the pinnacle of the sport. Moreover, she managed to surpass the high expectations set on her given her father’s status in the sport becoming one of the best female boxers ever. She retired from the sport with an undefeated record of 24-0 and also had multiple championships under her belt.

This certainly cemented her status as an all-time great boxer. However, there is one thing that is still missing from her resume. Every professional athlete dreams of being in the Olympics once as it is the stage where the elites of the sporting world desperately want to compete in. Moreover, former UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen revealed that Ali wanted to participate in the Olympics herself to gain some more prestige.

Chael Sonnen reveals why Laila Ali wanted to compete in the Olympics

In a recent appearance on Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant podcast, ‘The American Gangster’ talked about how he spoke to Laila Ali once. He stated that during that conversation ‘SheBeeStining’ told him that her one regret was not competing in the Olympics. For her, this was something her heart wanted to do as she was bent on proving that she was the best.

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“I got to interview Laila Ali one time. I did the celebrity apprentice with her. She comes into the hotel I get an interview, I got to talk about Ronda a little bit but that was a big thing at the time. Laila said she said I wish would have done the Olympics and the reason she had is that she was a multiple-time world champion and she retired like 28-0. I’m making numbers but it’s something like this” said Sonnen

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This was not the only reason why Ali wanted to compete in the Olympics as Sonnen later dropped a truth bomb. The former middleweight title challenger went on to reveal a dark secret about the opponents Ali faced in her career.

Sonnen exposes Laila Ail’s promoters for their choice of opponents

Later in the podcast, Sonnen revealed that Ali’s promoters were giving her opponents far lower than her in terms of competition. This allowed Ali to stat pad her resume on her way to becoming a world champion. However, by competing in the Olympics she could prove to herself that she was the best.

“She said in my heart I never felt it. I knew what my promoter was doing, I knew I was training my a*s off and they were grabbing a girl from the bar. They would grab a girl from the local club and bring her up. I knew that I was training the way that my father had taught me to do and this girl only sparred once in her life and I was knocking these girls out and she said if I were to go to the Olympics that would set an architecture where J would know I was the best.” Sonnen added.

Adding an Olympic medal to her resume would have certainly boosted Ali’s standing in the all-time rankings. Moreover, with recent greats like Claressa Shields having Olympic medals themselves, it must be hard for Ali never to have competed among the best.

Despite this, it is hard to deny what the former champion has accomplished in the sport and will go down as one of the best female boxers ever.

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What did you think about Sonnen exposing Ali’s confession about her opponents? Let us know in the comments.