Out on August 15th and available across the globe is Fighter’s Heaven, from photographer Peter Angelo Simon. Take a look at a collection of preview images and snippets from the book here.
The book is available for pre-order from Amazon for $49.95.
Peter Angelo Simon
Foreword by d.a. pennebaker
“If there’s a secret to my fights, it’s how I prepare.” Muhammad Ali
“Forty-two years ago I photographed Muhammad Ali in the rural Pennsylvania sanctuary he called ‘Fighter’s Heaven’ as he prepared for the greatest contest of his career. Here was the most famous and contentious personality on the planet in his private retreat – the calm eye of the public hurricane – which was most of his life. While a global audience was fixated on his fate, I was able to record aspects of Ali virtually unknown.” Peter Angelo Simon, 2016
In October 1974, Muhammad Ali would attempt to regain the world heavyweight boxing championship title that was stripped from him when he refused the Vietnam draft seven years earlier. He faced the brutal, undefeated George Foreman in Zaire, Africa, the fight he had dubbed “The Rumble in The Jungle”.
Only weeks before, on August 11-12, photographer Peter Angelo Simon was invited to experience the private world of one of the most famous people on the planet as he prepared mentally and physically for the biggest challenge of his life.
In August 2016, Reel Art Press presents Muhammad Ali: Fighter’s Heaven 1974. These rare photographs, the majority previously unpublished, are presented as a 176-page hardback book. This two-day photo essay captures Ali the man, unguarded, away from the glare of the media spotlight at his Pennsylvania sanctuary. It includes a foreword by D A Pennebaker, foremost chronicler of American counterculture in the sixties, and an introduction by Peter Angelo Simon.
