Boxing Nfl Gossip

Boxer Laila Ali and her husband, former NFL wide receiver Curtis Conway, are expecting their first child together, an article on People Magazine's web site says.

The baby will be the first for Ali and fourth for Conway. The baby's maternal grandfather will be Muhammad Ali.

The 30-year-old Ali has a 24-0 record in the ring, but her boxing career may be over. She hasn't fought in more than a year, wouldn't be able to fight for at least several more months (the only difference between licensing rules for male and female boxers is that females must take a pregnancy test) and has seemed more interested lately in working as an entertainer than a boxer.

Conway was the Bears' first-round draft pick out of USC in 1993, and he spent seven seasons in Chicago. He also spent three years with the Chargers, one with the Jets and one with the 49ers. He retired with 8,230 receiving yards.

Laila Ali, the daughter of Muhammad Ali who has gone on to have a successful boxing career herself, married former Bears receiver Curtis Conway last weekend.

Ali, a super middleweight champion, "wore a champagne-colored silk charmeuse strapless mermaid gown," People magazine reported. Ali, who competed in "Dancing With the Stars" last season, divorced her husband and former promoter, Yahya McClain, in 2005.

Conway was the Bears' first-round draft pick out of USC in 1993, and he spent seven seasons in Chicago. He also spent three years with the Chargers, one with the Jets and one with the 49ers. He retired with 8,230 receiving yards.

The photo shows Conway, Ali and Conway's three children at the premiere of Ratatouille last month.

Boxer Roy Jones Jr. knows what it's like to be criticized for being involved in animal fighting. Jones has, in the past, been tied to cockfighting, but he now says he raises chickens just because he likes them, not because he wants to see them fight.

So Jones was a logical person to ask about the allegations that Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is involved in dog fighting, and Robert Cassidy of Newsday did just that:

People tend to talk so hard against people. They make it such a bad thing, like dog fighting is worse than killing someone. I'm not a dog fighter. I've never been to a dog fight. But just because they have the animals doesn't mean they are fighting the animals. Michael Vick doesn't have that kind of time to train and raise dogs... I like bulldogs and I like their mentally. They are making this so bad, but really two dogs fighting can happen in anyone's backyard or on the street. It happened in my backyard, two of my dogs fought and one died.

Three follow-ups I wish Cassidy had asked Jones:
1. Can you name even one person who has said dog fighting is worse than killing someone, or even said anything like that?
2. How do you know Vick's schedule so well that you can be certain that Vick doesn't have time to raise dogs?
3. Do you really think what happened in your backyard is the same as organizing events in which two dogs are forced to fight each other to the death?

There appears to be more to the raid of Signature Pharmacy in Orlando, Florida and the Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center in Jupiter, Florida than meets the eye. In spite of federal investigators repeated protestations that the raids are not celebrity or professional athlete-driven, there is now real evidence that the want to name well-known people may have been at the heart of these raids.

Yesterday, as reported by Brendan J. Lyons of the Albany Times-Union, Lt. Carl Metzger, commander of the Orlando Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, had this to say:

"I don't know the names of a lot of the athletes. This is a criminal investigation, not an administrative investigation," Metzger told a gaggle of TV reporters at the scene. "I think that some of their business was legitimate," he said, adding that "much of it was illegal."

And then in a statement that has grown so in popularity that its use has begun to draw suspicion to all which it is attached, Metzger added:

"People forget about the damage steroids can cause," Metzger said. "It goes all the way down to the high school level."

Ahhh yes, the kids. We're doin' it for the kids.

However, there is a sure sign that busting athletes for using steroids was perhaps the main reason for the raids is this bit of self-confession by none other than Sports Illustrated:

As part of a broad operation to crack down on the sale of performance-enhancing drugs over the Internet, authorities raided an Orlando pharmacy and a Jupiter, Fla., "anti-aging" clinic Tuesday morning. Sports Illustrated reporters Luis Fernando Llosa and L. Jon Wertheim accompanied investigators on the Jupiter raid, which authorities believe will reveal a trove of athletes as clients. SI.com caught up with Llosa and Wertheim in South Florida on Tuesday night.