Zenon Texeira, a British photographer, arrived at Muhammad Ali’s home in March 2016 with a simple agreement: to portray him as he was. Later, he would say just one sentence to describe what he felt in front of the former champion: “I saw his aura”. He did not know that this would be the last time anyone photographed him alive.
Two months later, on June 3, 2016, Ali died at the age of 74 in Louisville, Kentucky, after 32 years of a silent battle against Parkinson’s. The following Monday, The Sun chose that same photo for its front page, and the Daily Mail reproduced it hours later. The image showed a frail man, far from the invincible boxer the world remembered.
On social media, the reaction was divided between those who were grateful to see his final truth and those who believed his privacy had been violated. His daughter Hana was by his side in his final days, and at the funeral, attended by former president Bill Clinton, Louisville bid farewell to its most famous son. Do you think that photo honored his legacy or exposed him too much?
