NEW YORK (THE NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE)

Rahaman Ali, who gave up a boxing career of his own to become a chauffeur, sparring partner, gofer, chef and cornerman for his older brother, Muhammad Ali, died Friday. He was 82.

The death was announced by the Muhammad Ali Center, a museum in Louisville, Kentucky, the brothers' birthplace. The statement did not include further details.

In the 1960s and '70s, when Muhammad Ali was generally considered the world's most thrilling boxer, he developed a sizable entourage, with Rahaman - pronounced ROCK-mon - the innermost member of the circle.

Labelled Muhammad Ali’s “best sparring partner” by the writer Jonathan Eig in his biography “Ali: A Life” (2017), Rahaman helped his brother prepare for major bouts with Archie Moore, Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson.

“His brother’s dreams have become his dreams, and his brother’s triumphs his triumphs,” syndicated sports columnist Dick Schaap wrote in 1975.

Rahaman Ali was born July 18, 1943, a year and a half after his brother. He was a promising amateur boxer who won his first professional fight in an undercard bout the same evening that his brother beat Liston to become the world heavyweight champion.

Rahaman went on to earn a middling record of 10 wins, three losses and one draw. He retired after a technical knockout in 1972.