Ali’s daughter: The Greatest is OK

New Orleans: Muhammad Ali’s daughter knocked down rumours of her father being near death on Sunday, saying he was at home watching the Super Bowl.

May May Ali said she talked to her father on Sunday morning on the phone and he was fine. She said he was watching the Super Bowl at home in Arizona, wearing a Baltimore Ravens jersey.

“He’s fine, in fact he was talking well this morning,” she said. “These rumours pop up every once in a while but there’s nothing to them.”

The rumours were started by a report in a British tabloid quoting Ali’s brother, Rahman, as saying the former heavyweight champion was near death.

Rahman, though, said he hadn’t seen his brother since last summer and had no contact with the family.

The report was widely repeated on the internet, drawing expressions of condolences on Twitter and Facebook. Ali suffers from Parkinson’s disease. He celebrated his 71st birthday last month.