Boxing legend Muhammad Ali in hospital with ‘respiratory’ ailment, according to family statement

Former world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali has been hospitalised for a respiratory issue, family spokesman Bob Gunnell said on Thursday.

Gunnell said in a statement that Ali was in fair condition but that a brief hospital stay was expected.

Ali, 74, has been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for more than three decades and has kept a low profile in recent years. His last public appearance was in April at the ‘Celebrity Fight Night’ gala in Arizona, a charity that benefits the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Centre.

At the height of his career, Ali was known for his dancing feet and quick fists and his ability, as he put it, to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.