Ali was not always at his ebullient best for the cameras, as Katchian discovered ahead of the "Rumble in the Jungle".

At his training camp at Deer Lake, Pennsylvania, in August 1974, she found him at 6am one day dressed and sitting moodily on a stump.

Cornerman Drew "Bundini" Brown later told Katchian that he thought Ali was so depressed at the time that he was considering suicide.

However, the boxer has always vehemently denied the suggestion.