The Champ: My Year with Muhammad Ali

By Michael Gaffney, Bert Randolph Sugar and Hana Yasmeen Ali

"THE CHAMP is one helluva achievement and one helluva book." —Bert Randolph Sugar, Hall of Fame Boxing Historian

Award-winning photojournalist Michael Gaffney was a personal photographer to Muhammad Ali from 1977-1978, and now shares his rare insider photographs and stories in THE CHAMP: MY YEAR WITH MUHAMMAD ALI. 

Gaffney traveled the world with Ali, covered three fights, took 8,000 photographs, and produced hours of recordings that, pieced together in this book, define and reveal an authentic Ali. Poignant, funny, and brutally honest, this book reveals the struggles of the legendary fighter who fought to stay in the game he loved.

THE CHAMP is a dramatic look at the trilogy of Ali’s fights from 1977-1978: A tough win against Earnie Shavers, a shocking loss to Leon Spinks, and a glorious redemptive comeback victory to win the World Heavyweight Championship for an unprecedented third time, a feat never accomplished before or since. THE CHAMP is also a compelling personal journey inside the good heart and courageous spirit of one of the most extraordinary people of our lifetime…Muhammad Ali.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diversion Books
• Release date: Jul 23, 2012
• ISBN: 9781938120206