SOUTH AFRICA: BOXING - Gwendolyn O'Neill seeks Nelson Mandela's blessings as she prepares to fight female boxing champion Laila Ali

Female boxer and challenger Gwendolyn O'Neill said she felt inspired by meeting Nelson Mandela on Wednesday (January 31), saying the 88-year-old anti-apartheid icon is a blessing. Gwendolyn O'Neill fights world champion Laila Ali at Emperor's Palace in Johannesburg on February 3. Ali was born in Florida, United States of America while O'Neill comes from Guyana. Nelson Mandela, the former South African president, appeared frail but exhibited his usual charm and humour, joking and laughing before the cameras and teasing a photographer about his grey hair. "Today I'm with Gwen. I wish both of them good luck, that the best must win. We support the fact that women have forward to challenge the role of men, because this has been monopolised by men, but good women now have come forward, and we think that is a very good development, " Mandela told the media. Gwen will be fighting the world super-middleweight champion Laila Ali for the second time. She was knocked out in the third round of their 2004 fight with Ali and said on Wednesday that she aimed to do better this time. Her husband, Ean Peters, who had a pre-fight verbal sparring with Laila Ali at the weigh-in on January 30, was more confident of his wife and taunted Laila Ali. "Come Saturday night, we expect fireworks against Laila Ali. We are going to win that WBC and WIB belts. We will knock Laila Ali out, there is no doubts about it," Ean Peters told the media.

ITN Source | February 1, 2007

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