ONE of Muhammad Ali's greatest fans has revealed the emotional last words he said to his idol during their final meeting.

David Leigh, of Manchester Road, met the boxer on seven occasions – the final time was in January, 2001.

The 56-year-old said: “I shared his 59th birthday with him in the Hilton Hotel London. 

“This was the final time I saw him and my final words to him were to tell him that I loved him.”

As an 11-year-old pupil at St Augustine’s Primary in Latchford, David first saw Muhammad Ali box on the small screen in the '70s.

He said: “I was completely transfixed and mesmerised by Muhammad Ali from that moment on and will be until my dying day.

“I was overawed by the absolute beauty of Ali when I first saw him.

“His perfect facial features, the white gown and how he danced round the ring shadow boxing prior to any bout. 

“He was fast, fearless, courageous and tough and so extremely agile.”

The first time David met his hero was in May 1979 when he travelled with Warrington entertainer Charlie Hale and friends to the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

“I walk taller in my life because I met Muhammad Ali and I have had his attention,” he said.

“I have looked in the warmth, beauty and love in his eyes and I have touched the hands and fists that have hit the chins of Foreman, Liston and Frazier.”

When he met Muhammad Ali for the second time David was determined to show the three-time heavyweight world champion that he was a true fan.

He said: "On August 7, 1983, I spent the afternoon with Ali and his entourage in Albany Hotel in Birmingham where I had a meal with him.

“Later that week I sent him £10 for the meal but he returned this to me with a handwritten letter.

“I sent him the money as I did not want to be one of those who took from him.”

David went on to meet his hero on five other occasions and even presented him with a lifetime award in The Savoy Hotel in London in December, 1999.

He said: “Ali said I was the only person he met who recited all 61 of his fights in order with dates.

“Later that night he was presented with Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC but when a knock came to his hotel door to say he had to start getting ready he told them to wait because he was talking to me.”

David, who runs his father’s company Ken Leigh Motors, went on to publish a book about the boxer in 2015 titled In the Name of Ali and has given out 160 copies for free to friends, family and complete strangers. 

The night before Ali’s death, David heard that he had been taken ill but added he is thankful he is no longer suffering.

“At around 5am the next morning I heard my phone and I knew then before I looked he had died,” he said.

“I believe in God because only God could make someone so perfect so warm, generous, kind and caring. Muhammad Ali is truly an angel.”