Daughter says Ali's health is getting worse

[savafan]

http://msn.foxsports.com/boxing/story/5029044

Muhammad Ali appears to be losing his battle with Parkinson's Disease.

The 63-year-old Ali, who has suffered from the disease for many years, has begun to show signs of decline, his daughter Layla told The Los Angeles Times.

"I feel like the disease is progressing," she said. "Different things start happening as you get older. I have noticed a change in him, something that goes along with Parkinson's.

"It's painful for me because I would love to sit down and talk to my dad about the way he used to be when he was my age, when he was in his prime, because we are so much alike. I can't really do that. I can't share a lot of things with him."

At age 27, Layla is in her sixth year as a professional boxer and has compiled a 21-0 record with 18 knockouts. She says she wants to talk about boxing with the former three-time heavyweight champion.

However, Ali, once one of the most quotable athletes in sports, is now mostly silent.

"We don't talk about boxing," she told The Times. "He might come to a fight and say, 'You're bad.' But he was never one to talk much about boxing with us. That was not him. And he doesn't talk much these days anyway. It takes him too much energy to talk.

Layla, who lives in Los Angeles, said her father feels "like he's trapped inside his body. He can think. He has things he wants to say, but his lips sometimes just don't move to get it out," she said.

"He has his good days and his bad days. He's taking a lot of different medications. Sometimes, his speech is so slurred, you can't hardly understand him. But he definitely knows what's going on. That's for sure. He sees everything."

How does her famous father spend his time?

"He's just taking life easy," she told The Times. "He likes doing simple things. He loves to draw, he likes to color, he likes to clip pictures out of magazines. And he likes to do magic tricks. It doesn't take a whole lot to keep him entertained. But his attention span is very short when the subject is something more than that."