Testifies for His Doctor : Ailing Ali Says He’s No Longer the Greatest

Ailing former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, conceding today that he is no longer the greatest, pleaded in a faint voice before a Geneva court on behalf of his doctor, on trial for embezzlement.

The former world heavyweight boxing champion walked slowly but without shaking into the courtroom. During his interrogation he managed to get out only about seven barely audible sentences. The interpreter asked him to speak up.

Ali, 47, was one of a series of people testifying that Rajko Medenica, a Yugoslav doctor living in the United States, where he is now a citizen, was of immense help and should not be put in jail in Switzerland.

Ali, saying that Medenica has improved his health since beginning treatment last May, expressed gratitude “first toward God and then toward him.”

“When I held my hands like this,” he said as he held out his hands steadily, “they shook. Also, he cleaned my blood.”

His wife, Yolanda, frequently having to speak on his behalf during the proceedings, explained that Medenica said Ali does not have Parkinson’s syndrome, as other doctors said, but found that his blood had been poisoned by pesticides.

Parkinson’s syndrome is a treatable form of the degenerative, incurable Parkinson’s disease, the main symptom of which is uncontrollable shaking of one’s hands and fingers.

Medenica, accused of embezzling millions of dollars by presenting false bills while a senior doctor at Geneva’s main hospital, faces up to 15 years in prison.

But a U.S. judge agreed to patients’ requests not to force him to appear in Geneva, and he is being tried in absentia. The patients say that only Medenica has been able to help them.

Ali, asked by a correspondent if he is still “the greatest” as he claimed to be even five years ago, replied: “Used to be.”

But despite his slurred speech, he showed some of the wit and sparkle in the eyes, delighting occasionally in sparring verbally with reporters.

Asked if the numerous heavy blows he took to his head might have contributed to his condition, he referred to another former world champion whom he now refers to as a friend: “Joe Frazier has no problem. He’s taken more blows than me.”

Asked if he really thought his speech had improved, Ali said, “I talk when I feel like it. Sometimes I don’t feel like it. I’m tired of press conferences,” he said, and then pretended to snore.

Ali has on occasion taken to sparring playfully with bellhops in his endless world travels. Asked if he still does that, he declared: “They wouldn’t stand a chance.”