Muhammad Ali is reported to be in “grave condition” at a hospital near Phoenix, says a well-informed source from NBC News.
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Muhammad Ali has suffered Parkinson for three decades and seen trembling while lighting the Olympic torch in Atlanta in 1996.
Multiple media outlets reported Friday evening that Ali’s condition has worsened, and his passing could happen at any time.
The two spoke separately in describing Ali’s condition as being very concerning to family members. “At this time, the Muhammad Ali family respectfully requests privacy”. Family spokesman Bob Gunnell said on Thursday that Ali’s condition was fair and the family was expecting a short visit.
Ali, one of the best-known figures of the 20th century, was hospitalized this week for a respiratory ailment.
Ali, born Cassius Clay, is from Louisville, Ky., and has a cultural center in his name in the Kentucky city.
His Parkinson’s, thought to be linked to the thousands of punches he took during his career, has limited his public speaking for years.
Ali’s second wife, Khalilah, 66, said one of her three daughters by Ali “is on her way”, and Maryum, a daughter by his first wife, is also at the hospital.
With an online report saying the 74-year-old ex-boxer was on life support, Gunnell said that every time Ali was in the hospital it triggered a “media frenzy”, the Courier-Journal reported.
Ali had been hospitalised several times in recent years, most recently in early 2015 when he was treated for a severe urinary tract infection initially diagnosed a month prior as pneumonia.
His last formal public appearance before that was in October, when he appeared at the Sports Illustrated Tribute to Muhammad Ali along with Foreman and Larry Holmes. Parkinson’s has weakened Ali, and he has been rarely seen in public in the past year.
Nicknamed “The Greatest” Ali retired from boxing in 1981 with a 56-5 record.
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“I can’t really say much more than what’s in the papers”, said Dr. Abraham Lieberman of the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix.
