Ali still the greatest as he celebrates 70th birthday

"Rumble, young man, rumble," used to be his battle cry.

But Muhammad Ali is an old man now, ravaged by his years in the ring and his decades of braving Parkinson's disease. The voice that used to bellow that he was "The Greatest" is largely muted now, save for those times in the mornings when he is able to whisper his thoughts.

The face, though, is still that of the most recognizable man on Earth. Maybe not as finely chiselled as it was in his prime, but close enough.

"It's not like he doesn't look like himself," said his oldest daughter, Maryum "May May" Ali. "It's the same face, the Parkinson's hasn't affected that."'

Ali turns 70 on January 17, giving Baby Boomers who grew up with him one more reason to reflect on their own advancing years.

Text: AP

Images: AFP

Image: Picture dated from the 1960s of the U.S. boxing champion Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali), who got the Olympic middle heavyweight gold medal in 1960 in Rome, aged 18, and got the professional world heavyweight title for the first time in February 1964 against Sonny Liston.