Cassius Green, cut man supreme, is probably quite glad that Laila Ali’s regular trainer, Floyd Mayweather Snr, does not enjoy long-distance flights.
Mayweather has deputised Green and BB Hudson to work Ali’s corner during Saturday’s bout against Gwendolyn O’Neill at Emperor’s Palace in Kempton Park.
Without this added responsibility it would, most likely, be a very quiet night for Green. Going on the first fight between these two women in September 2004, the most hurt Ali will get is if she breaks a fingernail while getting her fists taped.
In his pressed white pants, black blazer and sea-captain’s hat, Green looks like a cross between the late James Brown and Moammar Gadaffi in one of his more outrageous outfits.
”You gotta have a look; put on a show,” he drawls, when asked about the origins of his natty attire.
The ”show”, it seems, is always the thing when a member of the Ali clan climbs into the ring.
Laila (29) is the daughter of boxing legend Muhammad and his third wife, Veronica Porsche. Her looks and skill— she’s been undefeated in 23 professional fights and holds two world championship belts — proves that what you get when you cross an Ali and a Porsche is a very fast, very pretty fighting machine.
But it is outside the ring that Ali’s influence can be best gauged. Almost single-handedly she has transformed women’s boxing from a freak sideshow into the main event.
A measure of this is that local man Cassius Baloyi will be fighting for a fifth world title as the main supporting bout.
His Argentinian opponent, Nazareno Ruiz, looked bemused during Tuesday’s pre-fight press conference. It might have been the language barrier, but he looked surprised at having to play second fiddle to women.
Ali and O’Neill were meant to fight in Cape Town in August last year. But promoter Joe Manyathi had problems coming up with the R3,5-million he allegedly promised Ali as an appearance fee. (This time around promoter Rodney Berman categorically refuses to disclose what the fight purse or appearance fees will be.)
The Cape Town debacle was not the first time a bout between the pair has been called off. Their first match was scheduled for Abuja in Nigeria, but Ali could not find a flight at a time that suited her. They eventually fought in Atlanta, where Ali knocked out O’Neill in the third round.
Ali has inherited the gift of the gab as well as the jab from her father. On Tuesday she took the microphone with aplomb, delivering predictions about when the fight will end — ”Mrs Mandela [Winnie, not Graca] has asked me to end it in the fifth” — as well as taunting her opponent.
O’Neill, who makes the monosyllabic seem loquacious, broke her stony silence to announce that Jesus would help her to victory. Although Ali’s retort to this piece of God bothering was spot on — ”God loves both of us” — the rest of her tirade against O’Neill and her camp was vicious.
O’Neill declined to rise to the bait again, but later in the week she told the Mail & Guardian: ”Laila, she talks too much. She’s gonna pay for that talking on Saturday night.”
O’Neill (37), who was a farm worker in her native Guyana before taking up boxing in 1999, plans to ”move more, dance a bit more” than she did in their first meeting. She predicts a knockout in the third round.
While Ali is accompanied by a large entourage — including boyfriend Curtis Conway, a former professional American football player who she refers to as ”my baby” — and has revelled in meeting Nelson Mandela and his former wife, O’Neill prefers to work out for two two-hour sessions a day in the company of just her husband, Ean Peters, and manager, Sean Bristol.
O’Neill, a mother of five — ”my eldest is 16, my baby’s eight” — hopes to continue in the fight game after she retires from the ring. ”I’m already training my eldest son and daughter to be boxers,” she says.
But that retirement is still some time away. No matter what happens on Saturday night, O’Neill intends to carry on fighting. Her only definite plan for after this bout, though, is to work to set up another rematch against Ali.
Even her opponents recognise that, in the women’s fight game, the only name worth anything is Ali.