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News > Breaking News > Boxing great Muhammad Ali turns 70 with another documentary from Leon Gast

Boxing great Muhammad Ali turns 70 with another documentary from Leon Gast

Updated: 16 Jan 2012

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Boxing great Muhammad Ali, with his wife, Lonnie, right, looks down from a balcony at friends attending a celebration for his 70th birthday at the Muhammad Ali Center on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, in Louisville, Ky. Ali turns 70 Tuesday. Photo: AP

THEY are kings again. The party started on Saturday in Louisville, Kentucky, with special celebrations for Muhammad Ali, before his 70th birthday tomorrow. Lonnie, Ali's wife, said the former world heavyweight champion ''is still like a big kid when it comes to presents''.

Among the gifts for the great boxer is a short documentary for Ali's friends and family, crafted over the past few months by American documentary film director Leon Gast.

Gast is best known for directing When We Were Kings, the 1995 documentary depicting the ''Rumble in the Jungle'' between Ali and George Foreman in Zaire in 1974.

It won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Almost four decades after the fight itself, and 17 years after Gast's epic was released, the film continues to resonate with many people.

Gast said: ''He touched my life like he did so many others. He sprinkled his genius on my work, and this is the least I could do for him. I'm really excited about seeing him.

''With every bone in my body I believe Ali will go down as one of the seminal figures in American history. I was lucky to witness it, and it's a delight that the film seems to continue to resonate with so many people.''

George Foreman, Ali's rival who was knocked out in the eighth round of the Rumble in the Jungle, said: ''We fought in 1974, that was a long time ago. After 1981 we became the best of friends. By 1984, we loved each other.

''I am not closer to anyone else in this life than I am to Muhammad Ali. Why? We were forged by that fight in Zaire and our lives are linked by memories and photographs, as young men and old men. We have a love for each other.''

Foreman said boxing was such a small part of what Ali could do. ''I remember when I won the championship of the world, we didn't want to be called 'champion'. What we really wanted was to be the guy who beat Muhammad Ali. We wanted that more than to be champion of the world. That's really what we all wanted. To beat Muhammad Ali.''

Foreman said Ali was ''the greatest American that ever lived'' and thinks there ''should be a Muhammad Ali Day in America, maybe on his birthday.''

SOURCE: smh.com.au

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toto haiti Commented on 21 Jan 2012

My Brother Ali Ilove you I am a poor haitian us citizen Living in Fort-pierce FLorida 34950 p.Box 453-34954 Happy Birth Day to you and I Like to say Hi to your wife May God Bless you all Thank you Happy 70 years