For the majority of his career, many never realized that Muhammad Ali had a brother. But his younger brother, Rahman Ali, was always right by his side through ups and downs. Rahman was Ali’s sparring partner back in the day and he was also a professional boxer. They were inseparable. Now as Rahman mourns the loss of his big brother, he has revealed some longstanding tension with Ali’s wife, and how Lonnie came in the middle of the bond that he and Ali had.

BROTHER DETAILED TENSION WITHIN THE FAMILY

In the photo above, Muhammad Ali is pictured with his family. It’s memories like this, that bring Rahman joy in the midst of his grief after his brother’s passing. Rahman recalled the day Ali started to boxing:

“I was 10 years old and Muhammad was 12. We had gone to see a talent show and just happened to stumble across the gym. I can still recall the smell today. All we heard was the ‘boomf, bang, oooos and ahhhhhs’ coming from it. There was a policeman training all these young lads and we popped our head round the door. It was Joe Martin. He invited us back. […] It was God who took us to the gym. It was God who would make Muhammad great. Our bicycles got stolen that night. Muhammad was furious. He went straight back to report it to Joe and was so angry he wanted to beat the thieves up. Joe was trying to calm him down and told him to go and punch a few bags.”

RAHMAN ALI REVEALS TENSION WITH ALI’S WIFE

Rahman said that he and Muhammad were always extremely close, but after Ali became more sickly from the affects of Parkinson’s disease, things began to change…not between he and Ali, but between him and Ali’s wife, Lonnie. Here’s what was reported for Rahman’s recent interview with The Mirror:

Sadly, Rahman lost touch with his brother after falling out with the star’s wife Lonnie. And as Ali’s condition deteriorated he claimed she stopped blocked contact between the pair.

He said: “Whenever I’d called up, Lonnie would just hang up or not ­answer. He didn’t even know I’d call. We had been so close. I was always very close to his wives but never Lonnie. He has a heart of gold but he is weak to women. It’s his downfall. It was so bad I stopped ringing. It broke my heart. I wanted to speak to my brother so bad.

“I’d have said to him, ‘Champ, I love you with all my heart and soul. You’re the closest person to me on this world. I still love you.”

Rahman said that after being cut off, every now and then he’d get a call to make a few public appearances with his brother, but that was it.

ALI’S FRIEND REVEALS DETAILS ABOUT ANOTHER FEUD BETWEEN RAHMAN & ALI’S WIFE

Ali’s longtime friend, Howard Gosser, said that Lonnie had Rahman Ali arrested a while back. After Lonnie allegedly cut Ali’s brother, Rahman, out of Ali’s life, Rahman was no longer earning enough money to live, so he ended up moving into the small Louisville, KY home he and Ali grew up in and he sold some of the old furniture. When Lonnie found out he was in his parents’ home, Gosser says Lonnie called the police and had Rahman arrested because by Ali, being the oldest child, it was his name on the house deed. Rahman was by his brother’s side through thick and thin and there are some who say Lonnie was just trying to protect Ali from people living off of him and others say that she was strategically trying to gain control of an ill Ali so she could profit off of his name and fortune and remove them from his will.

We don’t know what the real reasons are, but we just hope they can all work this thing out.