See Muhammad Ali’s Final Stunning Photos Taken Just Months Before His Death

On Monday, The Sun unveiled exclusive photos of the last time boxing legend Muhammad Ali sat down for a photoshoot, taken just two months before his death by photographer Zenon Texeira.

“I feel blessed to have met my all-time sporting hero,” Texeira told the Sun. “To capture his majesty with such intimacy fulfills a dream.”

On Monday, The Sun tweeted the photo it chose for its daily edition, a stirring close-up image of Ali, aged and frail, but a literal sparkle in his eye and smirk that looks as if he just said, “I am the greatest. I must be.”

Texeira explains how he felt when he arrived at Ali’s Phoenix, Arizona home.

From The Sun:

“The Champ was feeling well and rested, dressed in a dark shirt as I requested.

“This has me punching the air and gets the adrenaline going.

“I don’t envisage having much time and set up a makeshift studio.

“Twenty minutes later our hero arrives.

“His skin glistens and he is meticulously groomed with cool dark sunglasses hiding his eyes.

“He is helped into an armchair and it’s clear to see how fragile this man has become.

“However, I am told that even though he may not respond he understands every word.

“I do what I have to do and 45 minutes later wrap the shoot, over the moon with what I have captured.

“I hold his hand, thank him, tell him that I’ll pray for him and kiss his forehead as I say goodbye.”

The newspaper said in the weeks after the shoot with Ali other photos may have been snapped at a charity celebrity fight night of Ali next to country singer Carrie Underwood. So, it may turn out these are not the real final images of Ali, but it’s hard to imagine those photos could capture the sports icon in the same way as Texeira.