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After 15 hours of labor, undefeated super middleweight champion boxer Laila Ali might have had the toughest fight of her life. On August 26, the daughter of Muhammad “The Greatest of All Time” Ali welcomed her first child, Curtis Muhammad Conway, Jr., with hubby and retired NFL star Curtis Conway, 37, according to OK! magazine.
The London-based magazine nabbed the first exclusive photos of Ali’s little champ in their latest issue, on stands now. Although the former “Dancing With the Stars” contestant planned for a home birth, unforeseen complications forced her to deliver at a nearby hospital instead.
“I have never been afraid that parenthood was going to be too much for me,” Laila, 30, told OK! “He’s brought a lot of joy to my life.”
Conway, who has three kids from a previous marriage, was on hand to help bring his son into the world.” Curtis caught him. He was able to pull the baby out. He cut the umbilical cord,” Ali told OK! “[Going through the birth process] makes you love each other more, because we created this child together. Then they gave Curtis Jr. to me. It’s important for the baby to bond with the mother in the first moments. I started crying immediately.”
The newlyweds, who married in Marina Del Rey, California, in an intimate ceremony, shared their pregnancy news exclusively with ESSENCE in our May issue, telling the magazine: “Curtis is very calm and has a quiet confidence, and he wanted what I wanted—to be married and have a family,” Ali said. “I am 100 percent undeniably happy. I’ve never been able to say that before.”
To read and see more exclusive photos, check out www.okmagazine.com