The Greatest's $80 million fortune would be so much greater if he didn't give so much to others.
He was worth an estimated $80 million, but how much larger would Muhammad Ali's fortune have been if he weren't so generous to others?
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The Champ’s friend and biographer, Tim Shanahan, told Inside Edition: “Whenever he got money, he gave it away.”
He knew Ali for four decades. He says the champ loved to rain cash on others and says he once saw the legendary sportsman's accountant writing checks for other people's bills.
Shanahan recalls the time Ali saw a CNN report that an old folks home in New York was closing because it had fallen on hard times.
Ali called the reporter, according to Shanahan, and asked: “’How much money do they need to keep that place open?’"
When the reporter replied with "$100,000," Ali promptly wrote a check for that amount and FedExed it to CNN.
Ali was married four times over the years, a fact that would put a dent in his fortune. He also had nine children.
Shanahan, who has written a new book called Running With The Champ, says Ali's legacy to his children is his generosity.
Shanahan claims that Ali once told him: "Wouldn’t you want to experience the faces of your children when you write out a check for $1 million for them? I am going to do that before I die."
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