Rare behind-the-scenes photos show Muhammad Ali training for one of his most historic fights
"If there's a secret to my fights, it's how I prepare," Ali told Simon.
On his very first day, Simon was up at 4:30 a.m. with Ali, who was running down a remote road in his army boots and grey sweatpants.
At the end of his more-than-five-mile run, Ali warned Simon to get his camera ready. "Get this," Ali told him. Ali pulled his sweatshirt up, as well as the rubber liner inside it, and water poured out. "It's called letting out the sweat," Ali said.
From that moment, Simon knew that Ali understood what kind of images he needed to capture. "Our unspoken agreement: he'd do his thing, and I'd do mine," Simon wrote in the intro of his book.
Within the training camp was a gym, mess hall, and kitchen, all of which were made of logs.
Ali's family stayed with him, and helped with the upkeep of the camp. His aunt, mother, and father also saw to the cooking.
Boulders were brought in for decoration, and Ali's father, Cassius Clay Sr., painted the names of other boxers upon them. "I could only speculate what these stones meant to Ali," Simon wrote. "The feeling was unavoidable that they served both as tributes ... and cautionary auguries of the perils he faced."
Ali visited a nearby home for the elderly during Simon's stay.
Simon recalls a memory during the visit: "A nurse shouted to one old man, 'Do you know who this is?' Peering carefully at Ali's face, he shouted, 'Yes! Joe Louis!' Ali nodded in acknowledgement. Later he joked, 'He's pretty far along. Let him think I'm Joe Louis.'"
Ali also had an exhibition match at a local high school during Simon's time with him. "Although the camp was created as a sanctuary for his training, Ali was nourished by people," Simon wrote.
What Peter did with his camera at Deer Lake in August of 1974 lets us experience Muhammed Ali's private world in a way not seen before," wrote D. A. Pennebaker in the foreword to "Muhammad Ali: Fighter's Heaven 1974.
"Muhammad Ali: Fighter’s Heaven 1974" is published by Reel Art Press in August 2016, RRP £40. For further information: www.reelartpress.com
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