Muhammad Ali: The never-seen-before photos of the boxing champion’s most private moments at his Philadelphia home
Images locked away in an archive for 46 years have been unearthed of the legendary fighter who died this month
THESE are the incredible never-seen-before photos of Muhammad Ali.
‘The Greatest’ boxing champion passed away earlier this month and reveal the former heavyweight champ in some of his most intimate moments.
The negatives from the snapper have been locked away in archives for 46 years but have now been unearthed.
In February 1970 Fischer was sent on an assignment to photo the boxing legend – aged 28 at the time – around his Philadelphia neighbourhood, before heading to the sanctum of his home.
And Ali let his guard down to grant Fischer remarkable access to take these amazing snaps.
The photos were all taken the night of a heavyweight title fight between Joe Frazier and Jimmy Ellis taking place at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Ali watched the fight privately, sat in the dark, inside a Philadelphia theatre through a closed-circuit live feed.
He then drove back to his home.
Ali’s family and friends were waiting, with the photographer granted the opportunity to snap yet more pictures of fighter, with Ali showing his paternal instincts towards his two-year-old daughter Maryum.
Fischer said: “ thought there’d be a story there but it turned out not to be much so the story never ran.
“We sat in the balcony and watched the fight, and with the lights down, no one recognised him.
“But when it was over, for some reason…as the lights went up, he jumped up on the seat and yelled, ‘I am the champ, I am the champ!’
“The crowd loved him and went crazy and it was all we could do to get out of there.”
“There was never a photograph Ali told me not to take.
“He was a celebrity, he was an icon, but he never played it that way.”