Ali's Daughter Scores TKO
Laila Ali's second fight was much longer than her first. The result was the same.
The 21-year-old daughter of Muhammad Ali stopped Shadina Pennybaker of Pittsburgh with three seconds left in their four-round bout Wednesday night before about 2,000 fans at the Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort.
Ali said in the days leading up to the fight that she would knock out Pennybaker, a 28-year-old accounting student making her pro debut.
Yet the 5-foot-10 Ali, who had a sizeable height and reach advantage, landed few solid blows early and appeared to plan out every move.
"I had to take my time and judge my distance," said Ali, sporting a bruise on her right cheekbone. "This was only my second fight. I'm not going to be perfectly right where I need to be all the time. That's why I took my time and why it went four rounds."
Early in the fourth round, Ali bloodied her opponent's lip and forced a standing 8-count with a series of blows to Pennybaker's head.
Ali finished with a flurry of left-right combinations that sent Pennybaker reeling into the corner and forced the referee to stop the fight over the protest of Pennybaker's corner.
"I was mad they stopped the fight. That's what I'm mad about," Pennybaker said. "My legs were really tired. I was exhausted."
The bout lasted much longer than Ali's debut, when she knocked out April Fowler in 31 seconds on Oct. 8 in Verona, N.Y.
Ali wasn't disappointed this fight didn't end in a knockout.
"I'm never going to be upset if I don't lose," Ali said. "I said I was going to knock her out because I feel I can knock everybody out.
"I'm happy that it went four rounds because now I know what it feels like. My first fight really wasn't much of a fight."
Ali's father, who watched her first fight from ringside, didn't attend Wednesday's bout. Veronica Anderson, Laila's mother who was Ali's third wife, watched from ringside Wednesday.
"It's always nervewracking when it's someone you love up there," Anderson said. "It's even worse than when her father was boxing."
In the first round, Ali taunted her opponent and shook her head when Pennybaker landed a punch.
"I was telling her her punches weren't hurting. That's one of the things I was saying," Ali said. She wouldn't discuss the others.
Pennybaker felt she held her own.
"She was a hard hitter, but I hit just as hard, if not harder," she said.
Ali wasn't thrilled by the fighters' height difference.
"I'm going to train differently for every fighter," she said. "I would rather fight somebody my height. I don't necessarily like to fight shorter people."
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