“If there’s a secret to my fights, it’s how I prepare.” – Muhammad Ali
In October 1974, Muhammad Ali would attempt to regain the world heavyweight boxing championship title that was stripped from him when he refused the Vietnam draft seven years earlier. He faced the brutal, undefeated George Foreman in Zaire, Africa, the fight he had dubbed “The Rumble in The Jungle”.
Only weeks before, on August 24-25, photographer Peter Angelo Simon was invited to experience the private world of one of the most famous people on the planet as he prepared mentally and physically for the biggest challenge of his life.
In 2016, Reel Art Press and Serena Morton II present Muhammad Ali: Fighter’s Heaven 1974, rare photographs, the majority previously unpublished, presented as a 176-page hardback book and accompanying exhibition. This two-day photo essay captures Ali the man, unguarded, away from the glare of the media spotlight at his Pennsylvania sanctuary.
“Forty-two years ago I photographed Muhammad Ali in the rural Pennsylvania sanctuary he called ‘Fighter’s Heaven’ as he prepared for the greatest contest of his career. Here was the most famous and contentious personality on the planet in his private retreat – the calm eye of the public hurricane – which was most of his life. While a global audience was fixated on his fate, I was able to record aspects of Ali virtually unknown.”
Peter Angelo Simon
EXHIBITION
Muhammad Ali Fighter’s Heaven 1974
Photographs by Peter Angelo Simon
From 8 April until 28 May 2016
Serena Morton Gallery
345 Ladbroke Grove
London W10 6HA
United Kingdom
http://www.serenamorton.com
BOOK
Muhammad Ali
Fighter’s Heaven 1974
Peter Angelo Simon
Foreword by DA Pennebaker
Release in July 2016
Reel Art Press
176pp; Hardback;
150 b/w photographs
304 x 245 mm / 12 x 10 in.
ISBN: 978-1-909526-38-9
£40 / $60
