Muhammad Ali's daughter dismissed rumours of her father being near death, saying he was at home watching the Super Bowl final.

May May Ali said she talked to her father on Sunday morning (local time) on the phone and he was fine. She said he was watching the Super Bowl at home in Arizona, wearing a Baltimore Ravens jersey.

"He's fine, in fact he was talking well this morning," she said.

"These rumours pop up every once in a while but there's nothing to them."

The family later posted a photo on Twitter of Ali sitting in a chair wearing a Ray Lewis T-shirt.

The rumours were started by a report in British tabloid The Sun quoting Ali's brother, Rahman, as saying the former heavyweight champion was near death.

Rahman, though, said he had not seen his brother since last summer and had no contact with the family.

The report was widely repeated on the internet, including on this website, drawing expressions of condolences on Twitter and Facebook.

Ali suffers from Parkinson's disease. He celebrated his 71st birthday last month.

- © Fairfax NZ News