Ali Returns To Madison Square Garden

Evoking memories from the historic days of Madison Square Garden, the name Ali will once again be on the marquee at the Mecca of Boxing Saturday night, November 11.

Following in the iconic footsteps of her legendary father Muhammad Ali, who graced the Garden's ring in eight epic battles, WBC super middleweight champion Laila Ali (22-0, 19 KOs) will make her MSG debut. Laila will be defending her title against #3 ranked Shelley Burton (8-2).

Ali, fighting out of Los Angeles, CA, will be trained by Floyd Mayweather Sr. for her 168 pound WBC title defense. “It is great to be fighting at Madison Square Garden and I respect the fact that Shelley stepped up to the plate and accepted the fight as soon as it was offered to her,” Ali said. “That tells me she is confident that she can win and understands what the true prize will be. I look forward to an exciting fight.”

Burton, who lives in Kalispell, Montana and trains out of Las Vegas, accepted the opportunity to fight Ali without any hesitation: “I am looking forward to fighting Laila Ali in Madison Square Garden. This is the opportunity of a lifetime and what I have trained my entire career for.”

The Ali vs. Burton bout is the second world title fight on the November 11 promotion featuring Wladimir Klitschko defending his IBF heavyweight title against Calvin Brock.

“We are very excited to have someone of Laila's caliber as the co-feature of this promotion”, said Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions. “She compliments Wladimir perfectly; Laila is the most marketable and best female fighter in the world and Wladimir is the most marketable and best heavyweight in the world.  It has been 35 years since Muhammad Ali fought Joe Frazier in the most historic fight in Madison Square Garden history.”