George Foreman reflected upon the life of his former foe and friend Muhammad Ali on Saturday, 4 June, describing him as a 'brother'.

SOUNDBITE (English): George Foreman (His reaction upon hearing the news that Ali had died):

"I was kind of prepared for the worst, I heard that Muhammed Ali had been taken to the hospital his family told me about the probability of his not making it this time I cried, cause no one want to lose someone so close to them, I've been following Muhammed Ali it seemed like all my life, competing against Muhammed Ali for all my life but we became most close as brothers."

SOUNDBITE (English): George Foreman (how his once fierce rival in the ring became his friend):

"Well I found a little spiritual blessings myself, after the fight with Muhammed Ali I was devastated I lost my beloved heavyweight championship of the world, I wanted revenge but time would soften for me. He called me somewhere in the late 70s and said 'George, would you do me a favour?', after complimenting me for about 20 minutes, ten to twenty minutes, I said what is it, he said 'please come back and beat Ken Norton for me', he said 'I can't beat him, but you can beat him George, he's afraid of you'. Here he is asking me for a favour of this sort I'll give you a title shot and from that point on, we became so close from the late 70s all the way to yesterday at his passing and we were very close."