Muhammad Ali's Doctor Calls Boxer 'Most Genuine Person I Have Ever Known'

— -- As Ferdie Pacheco, the doctor who was in Muhammad Ali's corner for 17 years, reflects on their friendship and "ride of a lifetime," he also describes the icon as "the most genuine person I have ever known."

"Sometimes, the hand of fate touches you -- and if you’re lucky, you recognize that your life has changed," Pacheco said in a statement. "I was touched by fate, when, as a doctor in Overtown, Angelo Dundee asked me to look over his new young boxer who was training at the 5th Street Gym. And so Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) became part of my life -- and I became a part of his."

Pacheco was the doctor in the boxer's corner from the Sonny Liston fight at the Miami Beach Convention Center in 1964 when he became heavyweight champ for the first time to Ali's second fight with Joe Frazier in 1977.

"And just like the rest of us -- sometimes you don't like what the doctor prescribes. I told Ali he must quit because of the damage the doctors were seeing to his brain," Pacheco said.

Pacheco continued, "Of a wide spectrum of friendship that I’ve developed in sports he ranks far and above the best of all my friends."

"He grew up with a magic to his presence that is one of a kind. He was simply a great champion. He was so genuine that he sparked a confidence in everyone. If you were ever around him, you had the confidence, you had energy," he said.

"He was a natural force. His radiance came from inside. You got the feeling of inner excellence, he felt from himself. It came from him. As he developed as a great champion it was apparent that this was a God given quality I never doubted," he said. "He was also the most genuine person I have ever known, his kindness and generosity cannot be overstated. He was simply, the greatest of all time.

"The world seems is a little diminished today now that The Greatest is no longer in it. Thanks, Champ. It was the ride of a lifetime."

ABC News' Jessica Puckett contributed to this report.