From the ring to the kitchen, Laila Ali can knock it out. And life after boxing has found the former world champion putting her culinary skills to the test more frequently. She hosts the Emmy Award-winning show Home Made Simple, and also crafts cooking books. In promotion of her latest read, Food For Life, Ali visited The Breakfast Club. “What I try to do is take the recipes that I’ve been cooking for many many years, perfected them and made them as nutritious as possible,” she told Angela Yee, DJ Envy and Charlamagne tha God about the inspiration behind her new book. She also spoke about her long history with cooking, and race playing a role in why she didn’t receive the same level of hype as MMA star Ronda Rousey.
On her transitioning into cooking: “I’ve been cooking since I was nine or 10 years old. A lot of people are like you went from boxing to cooking, no actually I went from cooking to boxing back to cooking. I’m really passionate about encouraging others to live a healthier lifestyle.”
On her detox program: “I actually have a detox now. It’s called the Laia Ali Detox. The foundations of the detox is the shakes, but it’s very customizable for everybody, so once they download it, it has a shake recipe that shows you how to build your own shake. Tells you how to build your own plate. But you also get advance recipes.”
On not getting the same level of praise as Ronda Rousey: “I might be able to think of a couple of reasons. I think it’s kind of known now that it’s a little easier when you have a certain color skin. You have to think, I’m Muhammad Ali’s daughter, people call me pretty, they’ve said I had everything it takes, and yet I wasn’t able to get to a certain level, just for certain reasons. But I’m not somebody that sits back and complains about things. Everything happens in due time.
More of Laila Ali’s sit down with Angela Yee, DJ Envy and Charlamagne tha God can be viewed above.