Friday, December 2, 2011

Muhammad Ali OK after being hospitalized for dehydration


SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- A spokesman for Muhammad Ali says the former heavyweight champion is "well, happy and carrying on with his daily routine" after being treated for dehydration last month.

Spokesman Craig Bankey says in a statement released Friday that Ali was treated Nov. 19, five days after the funeral of Joe Frazier, whom he fought in three epic fights. 

Bankey says Ali is home in Scottsdale. 

Longtime friend of Ali and Louisville radio personality John Ramsey told the Louisville Courier-Journal the former boxing great was hospitalized with congestion. 

"I don't think he stayed very long," Ramsey told the paper. 

Star magazine's website, RadarOnline.com, reported early Friday that Ali had been "secretly rushed to the hospital unconscious" -- a story Bankey characterized as "blown out of proportion." 

RadarOnline.com reported paramedics and police confirmed a 911 call from the couple's Paradise Valley, Ariz., estate at around 6:30 p.m. Paradise Valley police spokesman Alan Laitsich told the website, "The victim started to pass out in the car and when they got him into the house, he fell unconscious." 

Jeanie Kahnke, a spokeswoman for the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, says she spoke with Ali's wife, Lonnie, by phone Friday morning and that "he was right next to her asking for breakfast and that he was doing good." 

Ali was last seen in public at Frazier's funeral. 

Ramsey said Ali and his wife are planning to return to Louisville by mid-January to celebrate the three-time heavyweight champ's 70th birthday on Jan. 19. 

Ali long has suffered from Parkinson's disease, which can be caused by taking too many blows to the head. 

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