“You’re not famous until my mother has heard of you.”~ Jay Leno In an interview published by Fight Hype early in late 2015, Floyd Mayweather considered retired women’s boxing champ Laila Ali a victim of a racist system that praised white UFC fighter Ronda Rousey for her accomplishments but did not heap such glory upon Ali during her career. “But you look at things like this, Ronda Rousey, you know, I think she fought somewhere like 11 or 12 fights, which is not a bad thing. Laila Ali went undefeated and was dominating too,” Mayweather said. “After Ronda Rousey fought I think 9, 10, 11 fights, it didn’t even take that long, she got all types of endorsements, movies, and everything. Laila Ali did the same thing in better fashion. Ronda Rousey, she’s a good looking woman when she put it on. Laila Ali is a drop-dead gorgeous woman; I mean a naturally beautiful woman and can kick ass, but you never heard them [the media] saying when she had I think somewhere around 10, 11, 12 fights that she was the baddest woman to ever fight on the planet.” I’d be naive to try to tell you that race was a 100% non-factor in the media’s perception of Laila Ali as a superstar athlete. The lack of honest racial conversation that we have as a country exemplifies that. But, I do believe context is very important when making a comparison of events that occurred over 10 years apart, and in different sports no less. Mayweather’s rant intrigued me for many reasons and I asked myself: Why WAS Ronda Rousey more of a household name than Laila Ali? After some research, I came up with a short, but stacked, list. 5) Lack of True Competition I’ll admit when I first saw Laila Ali’s professional fight record I was quite impressed. But with closer examination a few things became apparent. Ali has been accused of ducking certain top level fighters in her career. Her big fight against Jacqui Frazier-Lyde was against a woman who started her pro career at age 38(!), mainly due to the opportunity to avenge Joe Frazier’s loss to Muhammad Ali. Ali’s bout with veteran Christy Martin was when Martin was 35. Other wins, upon watching the fights themselves, turned out to be premature stoppages or against sub par opponents who threw aimless punches while Ali broke down their lack of defenses. It’s clear by watching a few of her fights she was lights years ahead of most women’s fighters. By comparison, Rousey was booked against top notch veterans once she began to fight on television. Sara Kaufman, Meisha Tate, Liz Carmouche, Cat Zingano and Holly Holm were all under the age of 30 during their bouts with Rousey and are at a much closer skill level to the former champ. 4) Laila Ali was a victim of her own sport.
Like it or not, the masterminds behind boxing’s biggest names and promotions are almost unanimously male. There’s been no public or private push to create a new women’s boxing star, despite the fact that women like Christy Martin and Laila Ali have been retired for nearly a decade. Women boxing champions find more opportunities to draw money overseas than in the US. The majority of female fighters don’t receive sponsorships or self-sufficient income without sex appeal being the primary component of their identity. Some would argue Laila Ali would have made no public strides in her sport if she did not have a father who is regarded by many as the Greatest of All Time. Meanwhile, both Strikeforce(when they existed) and UFC repeatedly pushed women to the top of the card in multiple weight classes, giving them the opportunity to sink or swim. The earnings potential and payouts have been significantly better than what any female boxer can make, even at the highest level. 3) You need a grudge match – The more they genuinely dislike each other, the better. One of the biggest omissions on Laila Ali’s opponent list is a true bona-fide grudge match that drew major attention. The closest to that was her barrier breaking PPV headliner against Jacqui Frazier-Lyde, which was more about the 2 competitors’ last names than an actual rivalry, especially considering there was never a rematch. Meanwhile, Rousey dethroned Strikeforce Bantamweight Champion Meisha Tate in a bout built up by snipping quotes, which led to the 2 being made coaches on The Ultimate Fighter which led to their UFC title bout. If Tate defeats Holly Holm for the UFC Bantamweight title, a 3rd bout with Rousey is almost assured. 2) The Power of Television To put it mildly, even if Ronda Rousey’s winning streak ended before her loss to Holly Holm, she’d be a much more certified TV star than Laila Ali. Upon Rousey’s arrival to the UFC, Spike TV ran a one hour special on both Rousey and opponent Liz Carmouche. Upon Rousey’s win she was named as one of the coaches of UFC’s reality training show, The Ultimate Fighter, ensuring another 10+ hours of weekly presence on television before a major title defense. While Laila Ali was an extremely well quoted fighter, very few boxers get that kind of time and they are most certainly all major box office draws, as well as all male. 1) Timing is everything. For maximum impact, certain things need to happen at the right time. Probably the biggest reason why a female MMA fighter can be one of the most famous people on the planet in 2016 is because at no other time in history has there been such a society wide push for male/female equality. That certainly was not the case in 1999-2005, the prime of Laila Ali’s career. Right now in 2016 in the United States, we may be a year away from inaugurating the first female President. A women’s professional sports league (WNBA) has been in existence for nearly 20 years and is financially solvent. The US Women’s Soccer team has won multiple World Cups during this millennia and for the first time since World War II a woman’s team was celebrated with a ticker tape parade in the same place that men’s professional teams soak in the glory. There is a great push for equality in women’s pay in nearly every industry, as well as specific attention to women’s issues in every aspect of human life. Thanks to the power of widespread social media, that voice won’t go away. To have a woman athlete during such a time period excel is already fascinating. For it to be in a violent, physical sport that many equate to survival, that woman’s story becomes captivating. For that woman to win her first 12 fights, 9 of them in 322 seconds of total fight time, makes her a worldwide phenomenon. That simply would not have been the case 17 years ago.
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Steve TozinA connoisseur of global sports, entertainment, pro-wrestling and mixed martial arts. Archives
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