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Former Boxer Muhammad Ali Dies at 74 Years Old. Aired 2-3a EST

Aired June 04, 2016 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[02:00:05] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: And to everyone, I'm Natalie Allen along with Don Riddell from CNN Sports. And we continue to bring you breaking news of the death of Muhammad Ali, the boxer known as the greatest died. We reported about an hour ago and he was 74 years old.

The cause of death right now unclear but Ali had struggled with Parkinson's for more than 30 years. We do know he had been hospitalized in Phoenix, Arizona since Thursday with breathing issues.

Don and I have been talking with people, calling in since news of his death about the fact this is just impossible, Don, to sum up who Muhammad Ali was so -- the greatest boxer ever but so much more than that.

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: So much more than that, I mean. I don't think there's any doubt that he is considered the greatest boxer of all time, three times the world heavyweight champion.

Arguably, he is the most recognizable athlete of the 20th Century in his prime. He was a global icon, arguably the most recognizable individual on the face of planet earth. And he utterly transcended his sport. He was so much more than a boxer and a supreme athlete, he was an incredibly principled man. He stood for racial justice, religious freedom, and he really went above and beyond to make his points and stand up for what he believed in.

It is tragic that he we haven't seen the best of Muhammad Ali for some time. He died at the age of 74. Public appearances from him in the last few years have been few and far between as he struggle with Parkinson's disease for the last 32 years. But I mean even in moments like this, you can still see the ...

ALLEN: You can see it too.

RIDDELL: ... spirit within him, the passion and the fire and just the excitement for life within him. But as you can see, in later years, he really was struggling quite a bit and we didn't see quite so much of him publicly.

As you say, he was admitted to hospital on Thursday with breathing issue, breathing problems. I guess he went downhill fairly quickly. But we do know that many of his family members were with him at his bedside when he passed late on Friday evening.

ALLEN: Ali had nine children and his wife Lonnie by his side were told by a reporter who's there in Phoenix. Yet there's just so much you can say about the man. Ali had a larger than life personality and of course, a quick wit to match. He's a wonderful poet, wasn't he? CNN's ...

RIDDELL: Yeah, absolutely. He's a rapper.

ALLEN: ... yeah. He was. CNN's Wolf Blitzer now takes a look back at the life of the champ.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUHAMMAD ALI, PROFESSIONAL BOXER: This is the legend of Muhammad Ali. The greatest fighter there ever will be.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: He proclaimed himself "The Greatest", and millions of fans around the world agree.

ALI: Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.

BLITZER: Those phrases became Ali's motto. His wit and charisma outside the ring would also make him one of the world's best-known personalities.

ALI: It's going to take a dead man to whoop me. You look at me. I'm loaded with confidence. I can't be beat. I've had 180 amateur fights, 22 professional fights, and I'm pretty as a girl.

BLITZER: But his persona began to emerge long before he captured his first heavyweight championship. He was born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in Louisville, Kentucky during an ugly era of racial segregation in America.

At 12 years old, Ali's world would change forever when a local police officer introduced him to boxing. It became an outlet for his rage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cassius Clay of Chicago challenges Gary Joyce.

BLITZER: It also offered Ali an opportunity to develop his remarkable talent. Just six years later, Ali would bring home a gold medal from the 1960 summer Olympics games in Rome.

He turned pro at the age of just 18. And at 22, he stunned the boxing world, defeating a fighter the experts thought was invincible, Sonny Liston.

ALI: I shook up the world. I shook up the world.

BLITZER: Ali had arrived, and Liston would never be the same. To prove the point, Ali put Liston away for a second time in a rematch the following year.

The '60s were glory days for Ali, but the Civil Rights era would also become a controversial and polarizing period in his life. He renounced his given name and joined the volatile black separatist Nation of Islam. Almost as quickly as he had arrived, Ali's heavyweight title was gone, revoked after he claimed conscientious objector status and refused to serve in the Vietnam War.

At the peak boxing age of 25, Ali also gave up millions of dollars in endorsements and faced five years in prison, all in defiance of a war he called "despicable and unjust."

ALI: My intention is to box to win a clean fight.

[02:05:00] But in war, the intention is to kill, kill, kill, kill, and continue killing innocent people.

BLITZER: Ali began a three-and-a-half-year exile from championship fights until the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction on a technicality.

ALI: Everybody that watches and trains says no contest. You better not fight like that with Ali.

BLITZER: But the world would soon learn that even superman has his off days. Ali was barely back in the ring when his undefeated professional record came to an end. He lost to Joe Frazier in a 1971 match dubbed "The Fight of the Century". It was the first of three fights with Smokin' Joe.

ALI: Joe's going to come out smoking, but I ain't gonna be joking. I'll be pecking and a poking pouring water on his smoking. This might shock and amaze you, but this time I retired Joe Frazier.

BLITZER: And retire him he did. The famous "Thrilla in Manila" fight ended after Frazier's trainer stopped the fight following the fourteenth round, giving Ali a technical knockout. Ali was on a roll again.

But his greatest athletic comeback was in Kinshasa in what was then Zaire.

ALI: Only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick. I'm so mean, I make medicine sick.

BLITZER: Ali knocked out the heavily-favored young champion, George Foreman. It was called "The Rumble in the Jungle". His last fight in 1981 would mark the beginning of another battle that Ali described as his toughest, the diagnosis that he was afflicted with Parkinson's disease.

After two decades of redefining the heavyweight division, Ali was forced to retire. His lifetime record, 56 victories, just 5 defeats. But he never retreated from living a very public life.

In 1996, Ali provided one of the most poignant moments in sports history. With three billion people watching, he lit the Olympic flame at the summer games in Atlanta, his hands trembling but never wavering. Ali remained the consummate showman. As his condition grew progressively worse, Ali struggled each day to whisper a word. His hands and legs shook, and his voice quivered.

ALI: I am the greatest.

BLITZER: Yet his spirit was never shaken, and he never slowed down from serving as an ambassador for peace and a mediator in world conflicts. In 2005, Ali was presented with a Presidential Medal of Freedom award, the nation's highest civilian honor.

GEORGE W. BUSH, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When you say the greatest of all time is in the room, everyone knows who you mean.

BLITZER: And tributes for the champ continue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you feel about getting, getting the honor tonight?

ALI: It was long overdue.

BLITZER: Ali was one of the most gifted and unique personalities in sports history. The world may never see the likes of him again.

In the final chapter, few would argue that Ali needed the crowds as much as they needed him. Not for mere validation, but because each saw in the other the best in themselves.

ALI: Ali's got a left. Ali's got a right. If he hits you once, you'll sleep for the night. And as you lie on the floor while the ref counts 10, hope and pray that you never meet me again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: We certainly lost a giant in Muhammad Ali.

RIDDELL: Yeah, phenomenal athlete. I mean it's fantastic watching some of those old clips of him fighting. It is a very, very sad night for boxing fans and fans of Muhammad Ali all over the world, but I mean it's a nigh to celebrate an incredible life. Just everything that he achieved really will stand the test of time.

And you look at his skills as an athlete. I mean such a fine athlete and rather unusual style of boxer when he began. I mean he was actually better known for his reflexes and his hand speed. And the way he was able to outthink his opponents, I mean quite often he would take on opponents and he was so quick getting out of his -- out of the way that he would basically force their opponents to lose their balance and then he hit them on the counterattack.

And when he beat George Foreman in Kinshasa in "The Rumble in the Jungle", he really outwitted his opponent in that fight. He went into that fight knowing that his tactic was going to be to let the other guy hit, wear himself out, and then when he was exhausted, he'd strike in the sixth, seventh, eighth rounds, and that's what he did and that's why he won one of the most iconic fights of all time. And just, you know, just a tremendous athlete, but just a great human being.

[02:10:00] ALLEN: Yeah. And I think it was Don King who told us a short while ago, he could throw a punch, a wicked punch while he was going backwards.

RIDDELL: Absolutely. Yeah.

ALLEN: So, we'll be looking at what made him so fabulous in the ring, what made him so fabulous outside the ring. It's interesting to note he was Sunni Muslim and he stood up for his beliefs very powerful and hearing this probably bring more discussions during the climate we're having with the presidential election about racism and people coming together ...

RIDDELL: Sure.

ALLEN: ... right now. We'll continue our look at the life Muhammad Ali and we will play our interview with Don King as he talked about his friend Ali. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: You're watching CNN's coverage of the death of Muhammad Ali. We have lost a giant in the past couple of hours.

We want to show you now Laila Ali's Facebook page. She is one of Muhammad Ali's children and boxing champion herself. Her new Facebook profile pic shows her with her dad on her page she posted a picture of her father with her own daughter Sydney, his granddaughter.

[02:15:05] And she said in a caption above it, "I love this photo of my father and my daughter Sydney when she was a baby." She added, "Thanks for all the love and well wishes, I feel your love and appreciate it." From Muhammad Ali's daughter there.

Well, joining us now is CNN's Dan Simon, he is outside the hospital in Phoenix, Arizona where Muhammad Ali died a short time ago. Dan, any other words from the hospital about the death of Muhammad Ali?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Natalie. At this time the details are a bit thin. We just know that he passed away this evening. Obviously, this was a situation that nobody wanted to see. He was having some respiratory issues associated with his Parkinson's disease.

We know that his family was by his side. We know that he had been in and out of the hospital Natalie for the past few years and had increasingly become frail. He was last seen in public a few months ago at charity event here in Phoenix, Arizona.

And of course everybody was just hoping for the best. They knew that he had been in poor health. And, you know, when we first got word about this last night it was originally communicated to us that he was in the fair condition so, really nobody saw this coming in terms of the speed in which it occurred. I can tell you outside of the hospital there is a little bit of a police presence something that you might expect in a situation like this. And of course, you have the curios folks in the community who are coming out on to take a look, obviously, express their sorrow.

We're beginning to see people place some signs outside of the hospital and of course, that something that you'd expect to see throughout the night, Natalie.

ALLEN: Yeah, and you could certainly understand why people have lost -- we've lost the champ. And people want to place to go. They want a place to remember. They want to place to congregate and it certainly understandable that people would come there because that is the place perhaps where Muhammad Ali drew his last breaths.

Do we know anything more about what his hospital stay, what has been? He came there on Thursday, right? He was having breathing problems. Is the hospital releasing anymore information or they announcing that they're going to release anymore information in the next few hours?

SIMON: Not at this time, Natalie. We know that the family has requested privacy. However tomorrow afternoon in Phoenix there is going to be a media briefing where we understand the family is going to release some details about the funeral.

At this point we just know that it's going to occur in Louisville, his hometown. We don't know when it's going to happen. But some of those details should be forthcoming tomorrow afternoon, Natalie.

ALLEN: All right, thanks so much, Dan Simon, for us live there in Phoenix, Arizona.

Well, a short time ago we talked with Don King. He had a long history with Muhammad Ali. Back in 1974, he promoted the heavyweight championship fight between Ali and George Foreman that became known as the "Rumble in the Jungle", Don.

RIDDELL: Yeah, he also promoted Ali's 1975 battle with Joe Frazier in Manila, of course, known as the "Thrilla in Manila". I spoke with Don a short ago about his incredible experiences with Muhammad Ali.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON KING, BOXING PROMOTER: Muhammad Ali, you know, is -- was the man of the people. He was the fighter for the people. I love Muhammad Ali. He was a friend for life. And he had -- he will never die. His spirit will go on forever. And he represents what every athlete and sports person in life would try to do, an attitude of going out there and getting it done without any equivocation.

Success, what he was after, the goal he was after -- he was just fabulous. So, he was -- he is just a great human being and a champion of the people, the greatest of all times.

RIDDELL: When you first met him, what was it that attracted you to him as athlete and as a boxer? What was it he have that other guys just didn't?

KING: He had an attitude that he cared for people and little kids and old people, you know, he would go out and do things without any type of -- trying to find any type publicity or any type of anger enticement. He would do it because it's in his heart and he was a very jovial person. A person that was amicable, you could deal with.

And he was one of the masses, you know what I mean, and he would fight for that masses for what's right and what's wrong. And he would stand up for what his beliefs are. No one can truly see how great Muhammad Ali really was because during the heights of his career is when he run in to the encounter of being charge with draft evasion and that it wouldn't go to the war.

[02:20:01] But he was a conscientious objective and he believes in that. And so therefore he stood his ground on what he was and they took him to all type of trials and tribulations but he rose to the occasion to reap the protocol to jail then to break what he believed in. And that's why everybody loved him, did friends and for the like because he stood up what he believed in and he fought for the will of the people.

And so the Supreme Court of the United States vindicated him with that glorious decision that they came in his behalf. And it was just like, wow, it was just like heaven on earth for this young man. Those four years that he lost at the height of his career, they can never say how good he would have been because he did all this greatness after being held out from practicing his trade, at the height of his career.

He sacrificed that. He had something to lose and that's when you can really tell a person when they have something that they will be able to lose when you put him to the test. And he stood the test of time. I love the man.

RIDDELL: And he was incredible when he came back off to losing, as you say, three fourth of the best years of his career. Early on Don, people didn't really know what would make of him. He was so brush, so bombastic. I mean you look back at his press conferences now, and that they're just absolutely amazing performances and he was all of the cuff.

But in the early days, he was quite polarizing and very controversial. What was it do you think that really turned the public opinion in his favor?

KING: Well because he stood that best tenacious in his belief and firm, he said what he means, and he meant what he said. And this is what you can win the people with, you know, because when you got everything to gain and he had everything to give, I just go along with this system. But he fought a system for righteousness.

And in so doing he gained a fame, affluence, and but more importantly the loyalty of the people. The people that didn't like him had to respect him. And that's really -- all you have to do is to deal with R-E-S-P-E-C-T, respect. And this is what really turned him around because he kept his brash statements. He stayed right there with it. He was a visionary and he would prognosticate what he would do and then go out and do it.

And so he was a fighter but the people, he was the greatest of all times. And you know, I'm calling a phrase to him, I said, "Every head must bow, every knee must bend, every tongue must confess that thou art the greatest, the greatest of all times, Muhammad Ali."

And this is just what he exemplified and he demonstrated that, you know, with the love of the people, he was a tremendous, tremendous not only just a boxer, a great human being, and he's an icon and the spirit will never die. Ali will never die like Martin Luther King, all of them that stood up in trial court, with the president that I love, John F. Kennedy. All of them had ways and means of saying things that would be able to insight and get people all motivated and inspired to do what was right and stand their ground on what was right. And that's why Muhammad Ali will never die.

RIDDELL: Don, you're absolutely right. He transcended his sport and at his peak, he was arguably the most recognizable figure on the planet. You traveled the world with him. Are there any stories or memories you can recall which really exemplify that?

KING: It's a multitude. When he was fighting, when we made to fight for him, to go to Kinshasha Zaire, he told me, say, "I'm going to show you something. I'm going to do this and another." I said "Yes." But we couldn't get to fight George Foreman, one of the greatest guys in the world, he didn't want to fight Muhammad Ali because he said that Ali, you know, he was old and the people loved him and if he beat Ali, he would be -- instead of getting credits for beating Ali, they say you beat an old man and that, and he said that if he hurt him, he said that would be the end of his career, if you ever hurt Muhammad Ali.

He said, "So I don't really want to fight Ali and besides that he talks too much." And I said, "George," -- and from that talk too much -- talking to him, shut up Muhammad's mouth. All right?

Now, he goes in there and he introduces rope a dope and knocked out George Foreman, a formidable guy who carried the flags in Olympics and this was awesome, devastating punches. And he beat George Foreman.

Then we go over to -- in 1975 he goes into Manila, the "Thrilla in Manila". All right. So here's the guy then he is fighting Joe Frazer in one of the greatest fights that ever took place in the history of the sport, you know what I mean, in any foot, God bless his spirit.

[02:25:10] He stopped that fight in the 14th Round. He wouldn't let Joe go on because Joe would go on forever. But he said, he wouldn't let that happen. And Ali said, "This is the closest I've ever come to death."

And so now, you know, a death has caught up with him but like you say, death will not put him to sleep wherever because he would live forever. The spirit he's housed down here on earth, he has vacated. But he is still the acclaimed and the respect of the Lord who sits high and looks lower and keeps his eye on the sparrow.

Muhammad Ali is a legend in his time but he's fighter for the people and that's why he always said never forget where you come from and stand up for what you believe in.

RIDDELL: Yeah, he came out with so many quotes. Muhammad Ali did -- one of my favorites, "Live everyday as if it's your last because one day you're going to be right."

We haven't seen much of him in public really for the last 20 years, I mean we go back to Atlanta '96 at the Olympics when he lit the cauldron and that's really the last time many of us can remember seeing him in public.

Did you have a chance, Don, to speak with him in more recent times and how would you describe his spirit more recently?

KING: His spirit was -- is solid as ever. He wasn't a man that would take defeat. Defeat was not in his vocabulary and not in his behavior. Whatever he took on, it was a challenge. And he would fight the challenge, it's like what others would have done with Parkinson or diseases that would be a demoralizing especially to a person who was loquacious as he was, who was so high-spirited.

And it was just tremendous but he never say die. You know, and it was remarkable because, you know, they coined the phrase, "Don't let a butterfly sting like a bee, your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see. Rumble young man, rumble." And this young man that was a Drew Bond ini (ph) Brown and Muhammad Ali would emulate all of that.

He said he was so fast it could turn off, you can turn off the lights which in form of a room will be dark, you'd be and be it. And that's how fast he was. So he would challenge anything and everything in the sport of boxing.

And he rose to the occasion, you know, and he meet every fight was a tough fight. He know what causes the opponent down. He would -- instead of running away from signing autographs and saying he would take time everyday in the whole field to sit down in the lounge or whatever area to meet the people and especially to motivate and inspire the kids and to be able to hug and talk to the people of ages, you know what I mean.

So he was just a tremendous people person. And that's what I love about him, and that's what would inspire. In fact, he brought me into the big ring. He brought me into the big ring. I was not in the boxing ring, Muhammad Ali was my first fighter.

He fought me in. And after we put on a show for People Care in Cleveland, Ohio, they keep the hospitals there was open for four city hospital. He said you should go on to boxing, he said, "You are promoter. You are great promoted, he said and you should go on to the sport of boxing, you know."

And so, I said, "You want me to go on boxing," I said, "Then let me promote you." He said, "You got it." You know what I mean? And so we started out working together because I knew him before when he went to the exile, I went into prison. And when I come out of prison, he was -- he came out of exile about maybe some eight months before I got out of prison. And so he fought Jerry Quarry and that's I think in Atlanta, you know, and -- but he waited on me when I came out, you know, and when the people asked me to help him in his hospital, I called on him and he was right there to put on a show for People Care. He fought four, five, six opponents in one night.

And it was just incredible, you know, and he focus to fight for that hospital, nationwide and worldwide and Goodyear and (inaudible) that means a neighboring (inaudible) they came in as supporters and people came in and kept, you know, working and supporting and kept that hospital open because it only service the poor white and the colored community. So it was a tremendous thing. He's always been right there, Johnny on the spot for anything he could do for the betterment of mankind.

RIDDELL: Don, you did a great job for promoting him, he made a great job of promoting himself. He really was a wonderful human being as you say. This is a very, very sad evening but this is a life to be celebrated. Don King, Muhammad Ali's former promoter. Thanks very much for joining us on CNN tonight.

KING: And then let us say, let us celebrated, you know, his life. This is not a time to mourn.

[02:30:00] This is a time to try to emulate the job that he was doing and the burden that he leaves behind for us to carry on, to remember that the people are the most important.

RIDDELL: Well said. Don King. Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Back here live now with Don Riddell. And you cover sports every day, Don.

RIDDELL: Yeah.

ALLEN: All over the world but there is none other like Muhammad Ali, not even close.

RIDDELL: No. I would agree with that. I mean, I've said this before. This evening really was one of a kind, the way he conducted himself at his craft and he's -- in the ring, the way he trained but the way he represented himself outside of the ring. An inspiration to so many people, not just athletes but to so many people all over the world, for the way he stood up for what he believed in.

Civil rights, a role model to so many people and, you know, so many athletes who have come since I think have all modeled themselves to some extent on Muhammad Ali and the way he conducted himself.

ALLEN: That would be a good thing to do to model themselves ...

RIDDELL: I think so, yeah. ALLEN: ... after Muhammad Ali. One had said, you know, he grew up in the troubled '60s as a young man and learning to box helped give an outlet for the rage that he felt as far as his circumstances.

We're continuing our live coverage right after this on the life and death of Muhammad Ali. We'll talk with one of the now famous photographers who took so many phenomenal pictures of Muhammad Ali. Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:35:27] ALLEN: And welcome back, we're live in Atlanta and we continue to bring you the breaking news of the death of legendary boxer and man, the greatest, Muhammad Ali. Ali died in Phoenix, Arizona after being hospitalized Thursday. The man known as the greatest was 74.

RIDDELL: The veteran Sports Illustrated photographer Neil Leifer has photographed Ali throughout much of his boxing career. Leifer looks back now at his interactions with the champ and shares some of the stories behind some of his most famous photos.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEIL LEIFER, FMR. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED PHOTOGRAPHER: I like to call what Ali has visual charisma. There are some people that liked the camera. Muhammad, whether he was in the ring or in the studio, he has this charisma. He just seems to do whatever the things are that one does to make good pictures.

Muhammad Ali turned 70 on January 17th. I first photographed Ali as a 19-year-old kid and I've been lucky enough to ride his cocktails for the last 50 plus years. I've done 35 of his fights and then I've had my photographs of Muhammad in the cover of "Sports Illustrated" 12 times.

I'm often asked, do I have one favorite photograph. And my favorite picture ever, it's a remote camera looking straight down on the atrium at the Cleveland Williams-Ali fight in 1966. It is far and away my favorite picture, much more -- but I don't want to say more important to me than Ali standing over Sonny Liston because I know that my legacy is going to be that picture. But you had to be in the right seat at the Liston-Ali fight. So I was in the right seat.

The Cleveland Williams picture had nothing to do with luck. It was something I thought about. It was something I made happen. It was something I worked on to get it perfect. And it's the only picture I've taken in my life where even today I look at it, there isn't anything I would change.

You talk to anybody that was lucky enough to cover Muhammad Ali during his boxing career and even now. And they're all in love with him. And the reason for that is Muhammad Ali never ran out of time for anybody.

I've come to "Sports Illustrated" with the pictures and they feel that, gee, this is good. It's genius, you know. I mean, while you could miss, he was one of those guys, occasionally he'd come in and say, OK, you got 20 minutes today. You took too long last time, you know. And an hour later, he would suggest some things. And the most recent one in a lot of ways maybe is the most exciting. It was a fabulous experience and I found that if I waited patiently for the right time of the day, he's never looked better.

I always thought over my own ideas and then suddenly, you know, something happens, magic happens. And with Ali on his recent shoot, the lead picture in the magazine is this thing he's done for a million years where he gets in that boxing pose. Well, I didn't ask him to do that. He was standing there and suddenly he turned in to the old fighter, you know, and he just knows. He just makes good pictures.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: And even though we couldn't hear from Ali in the later years, you can see that in his eyes that he's very much the champ. He's very much ...

RIDDELL: Yeah.

ALLEN: ... there giving that sparkle the best he can with his smile.

RIDDELL: That's right. Yeah.

ALLEN: And you met Mr. Leifer, talk with him about following Ali all those years?

RIDDELL: Yeah, yeah. I went out to meet him at "Sports Illustrated" in New York a few years ago. And actually some of those photographs that he was just talking about were there framed on the walls and that spectacular picture of the Cleveland Williams fight with Williams ...

ALLEN: Yeah, that's amazing.

RIDDELL: .... Just lying in his back like this and life is absolutely a ride, I mean he really had to be incredibly creative to capture that picture. The picture looking down on the ring with Ali victorious and it's just beautiful symmetry but he use right, this picture that we seen behind the Snow Valley standing over Sonny Listen, it is the iconic picture and there's more to it than just Ali's victorious post.

Look at the man between Ali's leg, he's the photographer on the other side is the ring who doesn't have a shot like a photographer should have his camera over his face, he doesn't because he don't have the shot. Now was actually Leifer's boss or mentor and they've gone to the fight together and ...

ALLEN: And Leifer got it?

RIDDELL: Yeah, and the story goes that he said you know, "You're the young, rookie, you know, stick with me I'll show what to do, be on this side." And he said, "I'm going to go on the other side." Because he can't possibly know what a boxing fight which is going to be the good side but Leifer take his chance. [02:40:01] He caught this amazing picture which is to the test of time and as I say it, it's not just a picture of Ali winning at a historic fight. It's the fact that Liefer has got the picture of his boss failing in the monument.

ALLEN: Failing.

RIDDELL: Yeah.

ALLEN: You see the photographers they're scramming to get their cameras at the cost by but.

RIDDELL: You're going to get sure from that angle right at the back.

ALLEN: That's says so much, that picture isn't it?

RIDDELL: Yeah.

ALLEN: It's just indescribable.

RIDDELL; Yeah.

ALLEN: Really amazing. Well, as we've been saying as impressive as Ali's punches were in the ring, his trash talking was legendary, here are some of Ali's best moments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI: I don't like fighters who talk too much.

I must be the greatest. I own the world.

Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. Oh, rumble, young man, rumble.

I'm the greatest fighter in the ring today. That's my label.

And this might shock and amaze you, but I will destroy Joe Frazier.

I'm so bad. You know what I've been doing? Last week I went out to the jungle. I wrestled with an alligator. I tussled with a whale. I handcuffed lightning and threw thunder in jail. I'm bad, man.

Can I dance? Is the Pope a Catholic?

The man to beat me hasn't been born yet.

I'm the greatest. I'm knocking out all the bums, and if you get too smart, I'll knock you out.

Last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick. I'm so mean I make medicine sick.

They say he's fat. Look at me know. Don't tell me that ain't a perfect specimen of a man. Look at that body, slim, trim and on my toes. I don't get hit. I'm the fastest thing on two feet, man. Are you crazy? I'm tired of talking.

I'm not only a fighter. I'm a poet. I'm a prophet. I'm the resurrector. I'm the savior of the boxing world. If it wasn't for me, the game would be dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Muhammad Ali. Perhaps, he was the inventor of trash talking. I think he was.

Of course all kinds of reactions today coming on Twitter. Muhammad Ali is taking up all the top trending spots on Twitter, he deserve that. Of course boxer Roy Jones Jr. tweeting, "My heart in deeply sudden yet both appreciative and relieved that the greatest is now resting in the greatest place."

Fellow boxer Mike Tyson tweeting his sorrows saying, "God came for his champion. So long great one."

George Foreman, tweeting his condolences, "Ralph, Ali, Frazier and Foreman we were one guy. A part of me slipped away, 'The greatest piece'."

We'll have more of our coverage right after this.

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[02:46:51] ALLEN: If you're just joining us here at CNN, we've lost a great one in the past couple of hours. Legendary boxer Muhammad Ali has died. The Greatest was 74.

Muhammad Ali had a style and flair that remains unmatched to this day, dominating his opponents physically and verbally. But outside of the ring, the champ threw a few punches and took a few too. Here's CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

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ALI: I shook up the world. I shook up the world. I shook up the world. I shook up the world.

BLITZER: Shook it up like no athlete before or since. Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in 1942, Muhammad Ali first put on a pair of boxing gloves at age 12. And six years later bursts on to the scene as a brash but incredibly talented champion at the 1960 Olympics.

His star and voice rising as he turned pro, Ali stepped up against Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title four years later.

ALI: It can be that hard. It's going to take a dead man to whoop me. You look at me, I'm loaded with confidence. I can't be beaten. I've had 180 amateur fights, 22 professional fights, and I'm pretty as a girl.

BLITZER: When Liston could not answer the bell for round seven, Cassius Clay had arrived.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come here. Come here, come here.

ALI: I'm the greatest fighter that ever lived.

BLITZER: But almost as quickly as he arrived, Cassius Clay was gone. After joining the nation of Islam in 1964, Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali. He criticized U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and refused induction in the army as a Muslim and as a conscientious objector.

The year was 1967. Ali was sentenced to five years in prison which he never served and was stripped of his heavyweight championship and suspended from boxing for three years. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed his conviction in 1971.

Ali's undefeated record as a professional came to an end to '71 when he lost to Joe Frazer in 15 rounds. It was the first of three fights with Smoking Joe, culminating in the famous "Thrilla in Manila" which Ali won by a technical knockout after the 14th round.

After two decades of redefining the heavyweight division, Ali retired with a ring record of 56 victories and just five defeats.

In 1984, he was diagnosed as suffering from Parkinson's Syndrome. But while over time Ali's voice was quieted, his spirit was not. He provided one of the emotional high points at the 1996 Summer Olympic games in Atlanta when, with trembling hands, he lit the Olympic cauldron.

In 2005, Ali joined the distinguished company of people like former President Jimmy Carter and Pope John Paul II as a winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian award. Muhammad Ali, one of the most charismatic figures in sports history. And he knew it.

ALI: I am the greatest!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: I love this old, old footage of him. He is who he was from the very start, Don.

[02:50:00] He's apparent.

RIDDELL: Yeah. So theatrical and, you know, the thing that impressed me when I started to learn about Muhammad Ali, sadly I'm gone enough old enough to have watched his fights and enjoy them as they were happening. But when I first saw that documentary film "When We Were Kings" and he's there in the press conferences and he's regaling the media so theatrically, so poetically with so much confidence and charisma talking in rhyme, basically rapping, I just assumed that this was an act to playing Muhammad Ali because I can't believe anybody would have been that good.

I mean, he was absolutely amazing. I mean, he was just an incredible performer and a showman both inside the ring and outside the ring, a great ambassador for boxing, a great ambassador for sport, and a man who is so principled and who lived his life in that way and that is why so many people who are tuning in and learning of the news of Muhammad Ali's passing will be so sad today, that we really have lost such a great man, such a great human being.

But as we were saying to Don King early on, it is a sad day but it is a day of celebration because of all that he achieved in his life.

ALLEN: Yes, because what he gave us throughout his entire life, what he gave the world ...

RIDDELL: Yeah.

ALLEN: ... not just to boxing, all of us, I can't imagine the people around the world right not and their response to this news, Muhammad Ali.

We have several reporters around the world helping cover this story for us because he wasn't just an American boxer, he was an international icon. And Andrew Stevens is in our Hong Kong bureau right not to tell us more about the "Thrilla in Manila".

How fun is that to say? Andrew, hello.

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Hi, Natalie. Fun to say, brutal to watch though as we heard from that a bit from Wolf. This was the third of three fights against Joe Frazier in Manila. And it was -- it's gone down as one of the greatest fights ever but also one of the most brutal.

It was two boxers past their prime but with amazing determination, still skills and still strength and they pounded each other over 14 rounds. Ali won the earlier rounds, Frazier won the middle rounds, so it got down to the 14th round, at the end of the 14th round. And Frazier is trying to basically throw in the towel. Frazier couldn't see through one eye. He could barely see through the other eye. And he lost on a technical knockout, a TKO as it was.

It was -- I remember actually. I could sort of -- it dates to be sum up. It's in a small town in Australia, in the school ground talking about the "Thrilla in Manila" as it's upcoming, it was absolutely -- it transfixed us then as kids in rural Australia, listening to and watching this Muhammad Ali who he was. He was an absolute hero at our school. And we, you know, we were glued to the radio and listening to that fight.

And, you know, Ali walked away as the champion of the world. That was the world championship fight. And, you know, with the claim of The Greatest because he had beaten Frazier over three met boxing fights by two to one and he kept that title.

And Frazier said after was, you know, "I hit that man with blows that would have brought down the walls of a city. And Ali withstood it." And Ali himself was quoted saying after that match that it's the closest he's ever come to feeling like he was dying. It just gives you an idea of what was going on at the strength of that.

And right around the world, there was this, you know, people were tuning in like, you know, like the "Rumble in the Jungle", the "Thrilla in Manila," arguably, some would say a better fight, certainly a more brutal fight, Natalie.

ALLEN: Yeah, absolutely, Andrew. Don Riddell is here with me. And I think he said of the "Thrilla in Manila", Don, they said we got to go back and watch that. It was just amazing. It's what -- that was hell. Why would I ever want to watch hell?

RIDDELL: Yeah. I mean, it is an incredible fight to watch, Andrew. You're absolutely right and even watching it now -- it's quite difficult at times to watch that fight. I mean, the buildup to this fight was very, very intense. There was a lot of animosity between the two guys. I think they really did hate each other in the ring. And towards the end of the fight when they're just exhausted, you can hear the commentator saying I think they've just about trashed the hate out of each other during these brutal 14 rounds.

Andrew, one of the things ...

STEVENS: Yeah.

RIDDELL: ... that a lot of people might realize is that this fight was actually held at 10:00 in the morning at a time when the ...

ALLEN: So hot.

RIDDELL: ... the temperature conditions were absolutely awful. I mean it was, I think, 100 degrees. The air was just hot and sticky and stifling. It's just fascinating to sort of look back on that time and see, you know, the conditions ...

STEVENS: Yeah.

RIDDELL: ... that these fights were held in so they could be watched by an American audience back home. I'm really curious ...

STEVENS: Absolutely.

RIDDELL: ... because you've covered this area a lot. I mean, what do people in the Philippines make of the fact that this historic fight was held in Manila?

[02:55:02] You know, I mean, and people still talk about it.

STEVENS: Yeah. I mean, boxing is huge in Manila, across the Philippines to this day. And a lot of the reason for that is that fight. It brought the world's attention to Manila. There was a political angle to this as well, Don, because this was in 1975, three years after Ferdinand Marcos became basically dictator in the Philippines and this was saying as almost like a hearts and minds move on his part to bring this bout, this fight to Manila and tickets were that cheap so ordinary Filipinos could -- if they could actually scrounge up a ticket -- could get there. But enormous following in Manila, as you say, condition is absolutely brutal. The colosseum arena was -- basically it had a tin roof. The Philippines, if you've ever been there, bakes at the best of times, so everything was hot and it was steamy and it was over 14 rounds.

I just want to read you a quote. Manny Pacquiao, right, the sort of -- the -- probably the most famous of all Philippines' boxers, said -- he tweeted today, "We lost a giant today. Boxing benefited from Muhammad Ali's talents but not nearly as much as mankind benefited from his humanity." And that's what you're seeing time and again, guys, on Twitter, you know, that's the theme. He was unbelievable boxer but he was much bigger than that, guys.

ALLEN: I love all the stories that we're hearing and it's nice to hear from Manny Pacquiao or his publicist, the former publicist of Muhammad Ali.

RIDDELL: Yeah.

ALLEN: Thank you so much, Andrew for us there in Hong Kong. We'll continue our live coverage on the life and the death of Muhammad Ali right after this.

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