Ali gets shot on national TV

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Nov. 7, 2002 | 9:55 a.m.

Laila Ali has a score to settle with Valerie Mahfood and a national audience to watch it.

Ali, unquestionably the biggest name in women's boxing, is fighting Mahfood in the main event of a Friday card at the Stratosphere to be promoted by her husband, Johnny McClain. The cable network ESPN2 will televise that fight as well as a companion main between cruiserweights Arthur Williams and O'Neil Bell.

Ali, of Las Vegas, is 12-0 with nine knockouts and is coming off a KO-2 victory over Suzy Taylor Aug. 17 at the Aladdin. As was the case in the fight with Taylor, Ali doesn't think much of Mahfood on either a personal or professional level.

"I don't like Valerie Mahfood," Ali said this week. "She had a lot of negative things to say about me when I first got started, and I'm going to put a whipping on her."

Mahfood, 13-4 with seven KOs, may be hard pressed to go the scheduled 10 rounds in this super middleweight fight that will be held in the Stratosphere's 2,996-seat Outdoor Events Center.

"She's considered a tough fighter and is more respected than Suzy Taylor," Ali said, "and there are some people who think she might win.

"But I was that much better than Taylor and it's going to be the same with Mahfood. I put a tape of one of her fights on and it was embarrassing.

"I think it's going to be an easy fight. She has the perfect style for me."

Quick and powerful, Ali has yet to be fully tested and might not be this time out either.

"You've got to understand, I'm grading these girls on a curve when I say Mahfood is somewhat respected," she said. "She's not really very good and the fact that she already has four losses speaks for itself.

"But what can I do? They put these girls in front of me and it's my job to finish them off."

Ali, a daughter of legendary heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, will take some satisfaction in beating Mahfood, assuming the fight actually goes that way.

"She's got a smart mouth," Ali said. "I thought she said some nasty things about me a couple of years ago. She said she didn't like my 'juvenile delinquent attitude' and stuff like that.

"She also said she thought she was unbeatable and that I would never fight her."

Ali said when this fight was first announced, Mahfood attempted to soften her earlier remarks.

"She said, 'You're still mad about something I said two years ago?' and I said 'You're damn right,' " Ali said. "I'm not forgetting something like that."

Further, Ali has the incentive of the TV stage to bolster her resolve.

"It's a big deal," she said of ESPN2 televising the card. "For one reason, there may be a lot of people who know of me, but because I've never been on national TV they haven't had a chance to see me yet.

"There's a built-in audience for this fight and I want to look good."