Laila Ali

Anyone who's seen me before knows that when it's fight time, I don't have much to say.

All fighters run. The constant motion prepares you for being in the ring. And running strengthens your legs. Punching power comes from your lower body.

I wasn't in shape at all before I decided to do boxing. I wasn't an athlete. Before boxing, I would go to the gym for a month and stop.

I never ran with my dad. He was old-school. He had a whole different idea of training. He ran in steel-toed boots! But, of course, he's proud of me and proud of the boxer that I became.

I like to play by my own rules.

Focus on being balanced - success is balance.

Since I was a child, my father was sick. I've always known him to be that way. That's why I'm proud of him - he has a disease he's obviously struggling with, but he's not letting it stop him from doing what he wants to do.

We shared our father with the world.

You have to fight for your health and stay on top of it. Our bodies are meant to be healthy.

I want to encourage women to take control of their health.

I don't like crazy names. I don't like them. I don't think it makes any sense. You have to think about the child and, as they get older, what they have to deal with. A lot of people do things as a fad, and they want to get some attention, but it's like, this is your child.

Running is my time for myself. I'm like, 'I'm going for a run!' and my husband knows I'm out of there.

I'm Muhammad Ali's daughter, but my father and I are very different in that area. I don't necessarily try to put on a show. That's what my father's thing was, and he was great at it. Everything I say is because I feel it, and it comes out of my mouth. It's not scripted.

I'm not one of those women who's like pro women. I'm an individual, and I'm in an individual sport. So I see everyone as individuals, not as male or female.

While I was boxing professionally, I never thought about my looks. The furthest thing from my mind was 'messing up my pretty face' when I was on my way to the ring to meet my opponent. Yet, people I'd meet along the way would always ask me if I was worried about my looks. Then they would go on to say that I was 'too pretty to box.'

I was never offended that people underestimated me because of my appearance or that they thought I was pretty and discouraged me from fighting because they didn't want me to risk hurting my looks.

I understand that the average person can't imagine damaging their looks in any way if it could be avoided. But I don't value my physical beauty to the point where I would not do something I truly enjoy because I'm afraid of potentially hurting something superficial.

By being an athlete, I have uncovered so many other ways to express my beauty. Being a strong, fearless woman makes me feel beautiful. I love the way I look and feel when I am two hours into my training and my skin is glistening with sweat and my clothes are drenched because I have given it all I've got.

'All in With Laila Ali' is educational, inspirational, compelling programming profiling individuals that have reached for the sky, pushed themselves to the limit and did things that you would think were impossible.

My dad is an excellent grandfather. He loves kids. He loves to kiss them to death.

Pregnancy isn't 'I can eat whatever I want,' because you have to remember you're going to be stuck with a lot of that weight afterwards that you need to try to get off.

I have cravings all the time, even when I'm not pregnant.

I think that if you do want to be a fighter, then you need to work harder than everybody else and make sure that you surround yourself with good people, especially if you're a woman. You've got to find a team that takes you seriously as a female fighter and is not going to rush you into the ring before you're ready.

Authenticity is very important - be true to one's self.

I've had people in the family, male and female, impacted by heart disease. But people can prevent it.