莱拉当时18岁，在她的洛杉矶老家开了一家指甲美容店。但在那场比赛后，拳击手套、汗水和出拳的镜头深深地铭刻在她的脑海里，她立即来了个180度的大转弯，开始选择新的职业道路。她说，在那个时刻，基因确实起了作用。父亲的那个世界对她产生了一种难以名状的磁力。"我身上的某种东西在要我那么做，这很自然。"
Laila's father, she quickly points out, would prefer that she not take on the dangerous and bruising world of boxing. Johnny McClain, her husband／manager（and former boxer himself）feels the same way. Mom Veronica Anderson was a bit more pragmatic and encouraged her to pursue whatever path gratified her most. Even though both the men in her life worry about her, they're 100 percent supportive. "They don't want me to get hurt, " she says.
Long before entering the ring, Laila was a fighter. Being the offspring of a legend made her an easy target for high school kids to see just how tough she was. They, not she, failed the test. And she's passed every pugilistic test she's taken since. For the public, her biggest test took place last summer in upstate New Yorkwhen she took on Jacqui Frazier－Lyde, the daughter of Joe Frazier, her father's most celebrated opponent during the 1970s.
她马上指出，父亲倒希望她不要选择危险而会被打得鼻青脸肿的拳击职业。她的丈夫和经理人约翰尼·麦克雷恩（他本人以前也是拳击手）也这么认为。妈妈维罗尼卡·安德森则更现实一些，鼓励她去追求自己最喜爱的任何事业。她生活中的两位男士都为她担心，但又百分之百地支持她。"他们不想让我受伤"，莱拉说。
早在走进拳坛前，莱拉就是一名斗士。作为一名传奇人物的后人，她自然成了高中同学们的靶子，大家都想看看她到底有多厉害。结果，总是他们而不是她输掉了比赛。她也通过了此后的每一次拳击考验。对公众而言，莱拉最重大的一场比赛是去年夏天在纽约州北部迎战杰基·弗雷泽·雷德，她是阿里70年代最知名的对手乔·弗雷泽的女儿。
That fight provided the biggest shot in the arm that women's boxing has received to date. Media credentials were requested from outlets all over the world. Some billed it as"Ali／Frazier－－Genera tion Ⅱ". No match involving women had ever garnered so much attention. Laila squeaked out an eight－round majority decision in the middleweight contest.
One of her biggest boxing－related peeves is constantly being called"champion" by journalists although she hasn't won a championship title--yet. "People are calling me champion even though I don't have a belt yet. I'm the best at the level where I am. I want to win a belt and defend it a few times. "
那场比赛是迄今为止，女性拳击比赛场上最激动人心的一幕。世界各地的媒体纷纷要求采访比赛。一些媒体打出的标题是"阿里---弗雷泽第二代大战"。从来还没有哪场女子竞赛像这样引人注目。莱拉在这场８个回合的中量级比赛中，侥幸以点数获胜。 liuxuepaper.com