Muhammad Ali death rumours dismissed

Muhammad Ali's

daughter scotched rumours of her

father being near death on Sunday,

saying he was at home watching

the Super Bowl.



May May Ali says she talked to her

father on Sunday morning on the

phone and he was fine. She says 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 in a

telephone interview. "These

rumours pop up every once in a

while but there's nothing to them."



The family later posted a photo on

Twitter of Ali sitting in a chair

wearing a Ray Lewis T-shirt.



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.