Mandela reminds Laila Ali of father "the Greatest"

Champion US female boxer Laila Ali said yesterday that 88-year-old anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela had reminded her of her father Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest boxers of all time. "He is a very humble man and there is a lot of energy in the room...

Champion US female boxer Laila Ali said yesterday that 88-year-old anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela had reminded her of her father Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest boxers of all time.

"He is a very humble man and there is a lot of energy in the room and I could feel his spirit," Ali said in Johannesburg, where she is due to fight a title match next month.

"When I am holding his hand, he is walking on his cane he reminds me so much of my own father," she told reporters after meeting Mandela.

The former South African president, himself an ex-boxer, appeared frail but exhibited his usual charm and humour, embracing Laila Ali before the cameras and teasing a photographer about his grey hair.

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