Chris Smith’s photographs of Muhammad Ali at Miami Beach’s 5th Street Gym show the work behind the public performance: training, preparation and moments between exercises. They also record the gym as a meeting place, most famously when The Beatles visited in February 1964.
A photographer at the gym
Smith was photographing Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, as he prepared to face Sonny Liston in 1964. The Beatles’ visit brought music and boxing into the same frame. The photographs are part of a much broader record of Ali that Smith made across different sessions and years.
The series should not be read as a single day’s training. The caption index in The Greatest identifies photographs from different periods, including sessions in Miami Beach in 1971. Dates and locations matter when choosing or describing an individual print.
Looking at the training photographs
A boxing photograph need not depend on a punch landing. Hands being wrapped, a pause beside the ropes and the relationship between a boxer and his surroundings can tell a different story. In Smith’s pictures, the gym’s equipment, spectators and light are part of that story.
Explore Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee, Ali on the Heavy Bag and Head Guard as individual photographs rather than interchangeable illustrations of Ali’s career.
The Beatles visit
The encounter took place in February 1964, before the first Liston fight. For the background, read the story of Ali meeting The Beatles; to view the available photograph and its specifications, visit Ali and The Beatles.
From the archive to the page
The Greatest, published by GOST Books in 2024, brings Smith’s Ali photographs together with his recollections and essays. Read The Greatest: the book and its contributors and Chris Smith’s biography for further context.
Explore the prints
Browse the Muhammad Ali print collection. Muhammad Ali limited editions start from £2,200. Use the enquiry form on an individual print page to confirm availability, edition, signature details, sizes, framing and delivery. A photographer’s signature is not an autograph by the subject.
Reference: The Greatest (GOST Books, 2024), photographs and short texts by Chris Smith, with essays by Alon Zakaim and Paolo Hewitt. This article is original editorial writing, not an extract from the book.