IN 2010, about two years before his death, renowned boxing trainer Angelo Dundee opened up about his most celebrated charge, Muhammad Ali, and the circumstances surrounding his belated retirement from the unforgiving yet glorious sport.

Now the legendary three-time world heavyweight champion and social campaigner has also passed, and our sister title, Boxing News, has produced The Greatest, a 168-page tribute bookazine, in Ali’s honour.

This includes exclusive interviews, the fighter’s most famous battles and some revealing comments from a man who knew him so well.

“Every fighter has the God-given right to decide when to quit, but towards the end of his second reign he started to get hit with shots he shouldn’t have.

"Shots he would have avoided when he was younger. His reflexes had gone,” admitted Dundee.

“I don’t blame the boxing for Muhammad’s condition at all.

"Parkinson’s disease is not attributable to boxing.

"However, the punches he took throughout his career did not help because they take an effect later in life, but they did not cause the Parkinson’s.”

You can purchase The Greatest, a 168-page tribute to Muhammad Ali, here.