Sunday 5 June 2016 16:09, UK
Muhammad Ali's remarks outside the ring were as legendary as his boxing talents in it.
Here are some of his best-known quotes...
:: "Hey Floyd - I seen you! Someday I'm gonna whup you! Don't you forget, I am the greatest!" To then-world heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson during the 1960 Olympic Games.
:: "Why are all the angels white? Why ain't there no black angels?" In a sermon at apostolic church in 1983.
:: "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." On his strategy in the ring.
:: "It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up." When asked by the New York Times in 1977 if he would miss boxing.
:: "Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up."
:: "What's really hurting me - the name Islam is involved, and Muslim is involved and causing trouble and starting hate and violence. Islam is not a killer religion, Islam means peace. I couldn't just sit home and watch people label Muslims as the reason for this problem." In the aftermath of the 2001 World Trade Center attacks.
:: "At home, I am a nice guy but I don't want the world to know. Humble people, I've found, don't get very far."
:: "I never thought of losing, but now that it's happened, the only thing is to do it right. That's my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life." After losing to Ken Norton in 1973.
:: "Sonny Liston is nothing. The man can't talk. The man can't fight. The man needs talking lessons. The man needs boxing lessons. And since he's gonna fight me, he needs falling lessons." Before fighting world heavyweight champion Sonny Liston in February 1964.
:: "I had a good time boxing. I enjoyed it - and I may come back." On being crowned Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC in 1999.
:: "I'm not the greatest. I'm the double greatest. Not only do I knock 'em out, I pick the round. I'm the boldest, the prettiest, the most superior, most scientific, most skillfullest fighter in the ring today."
:: "Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn't choose it, and I didn't want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name, and I insist people using it when speaking to me and of me."
:: "I only said I was the greatest, not the smartest." Writing in his autobiography about the US Army measuring his IQ at 78.
:: "I may not talk perfect white talk-type English but I give you wisdom."
:: "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong." After refusing to the join the war in Vietnam in 1967.
:: "I'm the onliest person that can speak to everybody in the whole world. My name is known in Serbia, Pakistan, Morocco. These are countries that don't follow the Kentucky Derby."
:: "Sometimes I feel a little sad because I can see how some things I said could upset some people. But I did not deliberately try to hurt anyone. The hype was part of my job, like skipping rope." Asked in 2004 what he thought when he looked back on the boxer he was.
:: "Now the things that once were so effortless - my strong voice and the quickness of my movements - are more difficult. But I get up every day and try to live life to the fullest because each day is a gift from God." In the same interview when asked about living with Parkinson's.
:: "Maybe my Parkinson's is God's way of reminding me what is important. It slowed me down and caused me to listen rather than talk. Actually, people pay more attention to me now because I don't talk as much."
:: "Joe's gonna come out smokin', but I ain't gonna be jokin'. This might shock and amaze ya. But I'm going to destroy Joe Frazier." Before losing to Joe Frazier in their first fight, March 8 1971.
