Boxing legend Muhammad Ali has been hospitalised with pneumonia and is expected to recover because the illness was caught early, a spokesman said on Saturday.

Ali, 72, was admitted to a hospital in an undisclosed location on Saturday morning and is being treated by a team of doctors and remains in stable condition, spokesman Bob Gunnell said.

"Because the pneumonia was caught early, his prognosis is good with a short hospital stay expected," Gunnell said in a statement.

He declined to give any further details of the boxer's condition and said Ali's family was asking for privacy.

The boxing great, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, made a public appearance in September to attend a ceremony in Louisville, Kentucky, for the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards.

A three-time world heavyweight champion, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's about three years after he retired from boxing in 1981.-Reuters