LONDON, Feb 25: Muhammad Ali has said his fight with Sonny Liston, which saw him become world heavyweight boxing champion for the first time in 1964, was the most important of his career.

In an interview with Wednesday's British broadsheet newspaper The Times, timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of his first bout with Liston, boxing great Ali said: "It was the most important because I proved I was qualified to be a champion.

"At first I was scared... People thought he would kill me but I proved them wrong," said Ali, light-heavyweight gold medallist at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Ali, 62, suffers from Parkinson's Disease which makes it difficult for him to speak. The American's interview with The Times saw him answer by e-mail a series of questions with the help of his wife, Lonnie.

However, Ali who was known as much for his quick-witted verbal repartee out of the ring as he was for his immense skills inside the ropes, showed his sense of humour remained intact.

Responding to the news that former opponent George Foreman was planning a boxing comeback at the age of 55, Ali said: "I'm going to the Boxing Commission and telling them I'm coming back, too!"

Ali beat Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire (now DR Congo) in 1974 with an eighth-round knockout to regain the world championship, a fight billed as the 'Rumble in the Jungle'.

But 10 years earlier in Miami Ali, born Cassius Clay but who changed his name upon becoming a Muslim, was involved in an even more stunning contest. Liston, like Foreman an American heavyweight with a deserved reputation for fearsome punching, was the overwhelming favourite to successfully defend his title.

However, the champion quit on his stool at the end of the sixth round as Ali backed up his promise to "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee". Both that fight and the re-match a year later in Lewiston, Maine, which Ali won with a first round knockout, have been dogged by allegations that they were fixed.

One of the most charismatic sportsmen of the 20th Century, Ali was stripped of his title in 1967 when he refused to be conscripted for military service in the US Army during the Vietnam War. During his ring return in the 1970s Ali was involved in three epic bouts with Joe Frazier.

He lost the first in 1971 before winning the next two, including their last meeting in 1975 when an exhausted Frazier was pulled out by his corner ahead of the 15th and final round of the 'Thriller in Manila'.

Ali, who won 56 of his 61 professional contests, 37 by knockout, lost his title to Leon Spinks in 1978 but later that year reversed that result to become the first man in boxing history to win the heavyweight crown on three occasions.

By then advisors such as his doctor, Ferdie Pacheco, had long been urging him to quit on health grounds. But his career, which finished in 1981, ended with embarrassing defeats by Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick with boxing blamed by many for his subsequent health problems. -AFP