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PASADENA -- The breakfast buffet at the Langham, Huntington Hotel & Spa is loaded with scrambled eggs, crispy bacon and decadent pastries. Laila Ali passes by each on this warm May morning. She places a few pieces of fruit and half of a bagel with low-fat cream cheese on her plate.

Ali, one of the hosts of the new "American Gladiators" series and the youngest daughter of Muhammad Ali, is not being picky because she is in training for a big boxing match. The reason for the delicate diet is Ali is pregnant. She and her husband, NFL star Curtis Conway, are expecting their first child in August.

After her debut in 1999, about the only way to see Ali was in the boxing ring. But that changed in recent years. She leapt into television as one of the competitors on last season's "Dancing With the Stars." Then she started hosting the new version of "American Gladiators." The second season just started.

"There are new games, and the contestants are bigger, but I have the same job," Ali says. "I just interview the contestants and never get physically involved."

It is obvious from the wicked smile on Ali's face that under other circumstances, she would be willing to go face-to-face with an opponent in a "Gladiator" challenge. Ali's favorite challenge is the joust. That's the event where warriors use padded poles to try to knock each other off a pedestal.

"It is closest to what I do," she says in comparing the event to boxing.

While she wouldn't balk at trying "Gladiators," Ali has no desire to be involved in the full competition. She has enjoyed standing on the sidelines and watching others get pummeled.

Even during her pregnancy, Ali continues to work out and plans to return to boxing after she has her baby.

That's because boxing always has been a passion. Ali says some critics called her move into the ring a ploy to capitalize on her father's name.

"It was hard for them to believe I wanted to box because I just love it," Ali says. "They couldn't understand why I wanted to box. They would say I was too pretty and all that. But I just wanted to box.

"Now I am older and I have proved everything I needed to prove. So now I am looking at other opportunities."

For now, she is content to take a break from anything extremely physical. And that even includes dancing.

Ali had originally turned down the invitation to be part of "Dancing With the Stars." Then she decided it would be a good move for her. The ABC series gave Ali a chance to show a different side of herself. And that made good business sense.

"I always knew doing television would be a good thing. My father is one of the most famous men in the world, so I have been exposed to what television can do," Ali says.