Queen in the ring and princess on catwalks

Published 02 November, 2007, 06:24

Moscow's Natasha Ragozina is the world's top female boxer. She is also glamorous and has a happy family life. But she won't be sheer happy until she's fought Ali and won – not Mohammed Ali though, but his daughter Leila.

Natasha Ragozina is undefeated World Super Middleweight champion. Pound for pound, perhaps, she is the best female fighter on the planet.

A tiger in the ring, she is very feminine off it. Natasha is an emerging model appearing for dress designer Ilya Shiyan at Moscow Fashion week.

In 50 fights Natasha is undefeated but did briefly retire when her son Vanyushka was born. But the lure of a final challenge brought her back.

“I had beaten everyone, won every belt there was and decided it was time to rest. But then there was a lot of hype about this new star Leila Ali the daughter of the great Mohammed Ali. This was a final challenge I could not resist,” Natasha admits.
 
So far Ali has avoided three separate challenges. And perhaps it's not hard to see why.  Despite being very feminine Natasha punches as hard as most men. But she says she can't wait forever.
 
“I won't be like Evander Holyfield and still be doing this at 45. I want to beat Ali and retire. And then maybe work in television,” Natasha says.

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