Muhammad Ali Dead at 74: Photos

Muhammad Ali is dead. The three-time heavyweight champion and icon of boxing died on Friday in an Arizona hospital, where he had been admitted a day earlier with a “respiratory issue.” The champ had suffered for decades from the effects of Parkinson’s disease, which he was diagnosed with in 1984.

Muhammad Ali was charismatic and photogenic, for sure. Let’s look at a few more photos of him through the years.

Here’s Muhammad Ali (right) training in Louisville, Kentucky in 1959. He looks young, but just a year later he won the gold medal in the light-heavyweight division at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. He was known as Cassius Clay then; he changed his name to Muhammad Ali in 1964 after embracing Islam.

Boy, what a great shot. Here’s Ali promoting a fight in the 1960s.

…and fighting Earnie Shavers in 1977.

…and shadow-boxing with a young fan in the 1970s, as seen in the 1996 documentary When We Were Kings.

Here he is chatting with his friendly nemesis, sportscaster Howard Cosell, in a TV studio in 1970.

…and sharing a laugh with activist Malcolm X in the 1960s, as seen in the 1992 film The Real Malcolm X.

Muhammad Ali was a celebrity, for sure. Here he is with Gary Coleman in a 1979 episode of the sitcom Diff’rent Strokes.

Parkinson’s disease got the better of him in the last few years, but he was still game to “put ’em up” for the cameras. This was in Berlin in 2005, where he watched his daughter, Laila Ali, box.

Still, it’s more fun to remember him in his prime. Here he is once again battling Joe Frazier in 1975 — in the fight known as ‘The Thrilla in Manila.’  It was the third fight between the two, and Ali won in a 15th-round TKO.  He’s older here, a little heavier, but still packing a wallop. And still The Champ.

See our full biography of Muhammad Ali »