Daughter says Muhammad Ali is fine
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MUHAMMAD ALI'S daughter knocked down rumors of her father being near death Sunday, saying he was at home watching the Super Bowl.
May May Ali said she talked to her father Sunday morning on the phone and he was fine. She said he was watching the Super Bowl at home in Arizona, wearing a Baltimore Ravens jersey.
"He's fine, in fact he was talking well this morning," she said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. "These rumors pop up every once in a while, but there's nothing to them."
The rumors were started by a report in a British tabloid quoting Ali's brother, Rahman, as saying the former heavyweight champion was near death. Rahman, though, said he hadn't seen his brother since last summer and had no contact with the family.
The report was widely repeated on the Internet, drawing expressions of condolences on Twitter and Facebook.
Ali, who celebrated his 71st birthday last month, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1984 but remained active for many years and made an appearance at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games to light the flame. He appeared in London for the 2012 Olympic opening ceremonies but looked thin and frail.
Earlier, Rahman Ali had told The Sun: "He's in a bad way. He's very sick. It could be months, it could be days. I don't know if he'll last the summer. He's in God's hands."
