Muhammad Ali- Former world heavyweight champion

The personal doctor of Muhammad Ali has played down fears over the former world heavyweight champion’s medical condition.

Ali, 72, who has lived with Parkinson’s disease since the early 1980s, was reported to have experienced deterioration in his health, namely difficulties speaking.

“I don’t know that he is more or less at risk than anyone else but anything can happen. I don’t see anything immediately that leads me to think that he is going to die in six months or a year,” Abraham Lierberman, the director of the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Centre, told BBC Radio Five Live on Sunday.

“People do not die of Parkinson’s. They develop trouble swallowing, they develop pneumonia, fall and bang their heads. His family take extraordinary care of him,” he added.

Reports suggesting Muhammad Ali’s health had rapidly deteriorated surfaced after he missed the premiere for his own film, “I Am Ali,” in Hollywood in October.

“I have not been able to talk to my brother about this because he is sick,” Rahman, 71, told the Sunday People at the screening.

“He doesn’t speak too well. But he is proud that we are here for him. He has given this film his blessing.”

 
[wpResize]