Boxing’s New Butterfly
It’s tough enough for a manicurist to make it as a boxer, but Laila Ali carries a heavyweight burden–living up to the family name. Muhammad Ali’s youngest daughter will step into the ring this week for her first-ever boxing match. At 5 feet 10 inches and 168 pounds, Ali has inherited her father’s imposing size, but Dad didn’t exactly pass on his blessing. “He’s skeptical about it. He doesn’t want me to get hurt,” says Laila, 21. “But he’s going to support me as a father.” That’s why they call him The Greatest.
Tonya Skates Back
Forget the triple axel and the quadruple jump. The most difficult move in ice-skating history will be performed in West Virginia Oct. 18 when Tonya Harding attempts a comeback. Harding, 28, will perform in ESPN’s Professional Skating Championships, her first competition since that nasty 1994 incident involving Nancy Kerrigan’s knee and a metal club. Harding’s had a slew of odd jobs in the interim–singer, B-movie actress, skating coach–but she’s wanted desperately to get back on the ice. “I’ve paid my dues,” she says. “I’ve made some bad mistakes in my life, but I’ve also learned from them, and I won’t make those mistakes again.” Guess that means she’s finally learned to tie her skates tight.
Oscar? Who Needs It?
Despite rumors to the contrary, Jim Carrey wasn’t bothered at all when the Academy snubbed him for “The Truman Show.” “It’s a wonderful thing to get an Oscar, but I really don’t like the idea of kissing people and changing myself to get it,” he says. Well, maybe a little kissing doesn’t hurt. After all, the mediaphobic Carrey is making these virtuous confessions in Vanity Fair, just as Hollywood is starting to buzz about his portrayal of wacked-out comic Andy Kaufman in “Man on the Moon.” In fact, the Oscar machine is already humming, and Carrey knows it. “I know from people who are very high up: they say they’re doing the monkey dance.” Let’s hope he doesn’t end up as a monkey’s uncle again this year.
