Mail Online
Inside the ring he astounded crowds with his feats of athleticism and skill, while outside of it he captivated news headlines the world over for his bombastic and supremely confident personality.
By 1974, as he waited to retake his heavyweight champion of the world title from George Foreman at The Rumble In The Jungle, everyone in the world had heard of Muhammad Ali.
But precious few could claim to know the man behind the camera. The calm, thoughtful, focused athlete who enjoyed afternoon tea an poetry in between training sessions. Photographer Peter Angelo Simon is one of those few.
Invited to go behind the scenes with Ali for two days as he trained for the fight which would define his career, which Ali won by knockout at the end of the eighth round, Simon captured rare images of arguably the greatest boxer the sport has ever known.
In never-before-seen images, Simon photographed Ali at his Fighter’s Heaven training camp in Pennsylvania, standing among boulders with the names of boxing greats written across them, or training in a mirror set on a wall surrounded by photographs and press clippings of himself.