EXCLUSIVE: How 'soft touch' Muhammad Ali's $80 million fortune was depleted: he doled out $64,000 a MONTH to his family and lost millions in failed ventures like Champ Burger chain and Mr. Champ soda

Muhammad Ali used to pay out $64,000 a month in expenses to his ever expanding family to atone for his philandering ways, according to one of his closest friends.

Tim Shanahan said that the boxer - who died on Friday aged 74 - felt guilty about his affairs and having two children out of wedlock so 'never said no' when relatives asked him for cash.

He said that despite being a hero in the the ring, 'the world's greatest fighter hated confrontation' so would empty his wallet when asked - even for a stranger.

Shanahan writes that Ali's cronies took full advantage of this and plundered his bank account while charging onlookers $5 to see him train and selling t-shirts with his face on them.

Tim Shanahan says in his new memoir that the Ali - who died on Friday aged 74 - felt guilty about his affairs and having two children out of wedlock so 'never said no' when relatives asked him for cash

Close friend Tim Shanahan claims the boxing legend 'would empty his wallet for relatives and even for a stranger' in his new memoir Running with the Champ

They also spent $2.5 million that should have gone to pay his taxes and looted $21 million from a sports company set up in his name.

According to Shanahan, Ali may have called himself The Greatest - but he was ripped off his whole life like so many other boxing champions.

Estimates for Ali's total career earnings range from $40 million to $82 million, but in his memoir Shanahan raises questions over how much will be left after those close to him have feasted on his fortune for decades.

Ali was married four times and had seven daughters and two sons - one of them by adoption - though others are likely to now claim he was their father to try to get a slice of what remains of his wealth.

In 'Running with the Champ: My Forty Year Friendship with Muhammad Ali', Shanahan lays out the litany of bad decisions that Ali was advised on in the early stages of his career when the cash first began to pour in.

He says that Ali's investments were mostly 'disasters' and included ill-fated ventures such as Champ Burger, a chain of restaurants, a Mr. Champ soda and a number of botched movie deals.

In 'Running with the Champ: My Forty Year Friendship with Muhammad Ali', Shanahan lays out the litany of bad decisions that Ali was advised on in the early stages of his career when the cash first began to pour in. One of them was Mr. Champ's soda

Ali in front of fast-food restaurant Champ Burger. The restaurant chain was a flop

Ali was convinced to open up Ali's Trolley chicken and burgers restaurant in Hyde Park, the Chicago neighborhood where he lived, but it closed after 18 months.

Ali gave $40,000 to a friend called Harold Smith to set up Muhammad Ali Professional Sports Inc. which was supposed to recruit aspiring athletes from poor areas.

Years later Ali had a knock on the door from the FBI who wanted to speak to him about $21 million that was missing from its accounts.

Smith eventually served five years in a federal prison.

Another associate was accused of repeatedly conning Ali into ventures that failed, forging his signature on checks and costing him thousands of dollars.

The $64,000 a month Ali spent on expenses for his family was for their car payments, mortgages and insurance and was all on top of his own bills, which may well have run even higher.

Shanahan writes that one of his jobs for Ali was to make a few trips a week to Western Union with a pile of cash to wire money to the 'growing list of people that asked him for help'.

But it was the exploitation by Ali's inner circle which grated Shanahan the most and it was was most apparent at Deer Lake near Chicago, Ali's training camp where he prepared for most of his fights.

Muhammad Ali and his first wife Sonji Roi, a cocktail waitress he married on August 14, 1964. They divorced on January 10, 1966

Ali  is pictured with his second wife Belinda and their four children in 1973.. He holds three-year-old twin daughters Reeshemah (left) and Jamillah, one-year-old Muhamman sits on his mother's knee, as five-year-old daughter Laila licks on a lollipop at Deer Lake training camp in Pennsylvania

Shanahan, a medical instrument salesman, had got to know Ali in 1975 through a sports charity in the Midwestern city. By that time Ali was Heavyweight Champion of the World.

The two men hit it off and liked going on runs together, which was a crucial part of the boxer's training. Gradually Shanahan became a close friend and used to go over Ali's house for home cooked meals and to watch films together.

In 'Running with the Champ' he writes that at Deer Lake there were too many hangers-on who 'seemed to be taking advantage of him' - even though Ali was paying all of them.

They seemed 'jealous and sour' about Shanahan's closeness to Ali, played mind games and were more interested in 'trying to get closest to Muhammad Ali'.

Later on Shanahan claims members of the inner circle began 'actively ripping him off' and and writes that he was 'disgusted' to see the boxer's so-called friends submitting bogus receipts for meals, clothes and drinks.

According to the book Ali once told Shanahan, who is white: 'I never had any trouble with my white brothers around me. It's always my black brothers who try and screw me'.

Shanahan says that Ali had so many problems with money because he 'didn't want to admit he had made a bad judgement of someone's character'.

Ali began an affair with actress and model Veronica Porsche in 1975 and two years later his second marriage was over, and he married Porsche. They had two daughters Hana and Laila Ali, and divorced in 1986

Ali once told him: 'I'm a soft touch. I don't always see what's happening around me, so anybody could take advantage of me'.

Shanahan writes: 'Muhammad was certainly not stupid, and he wasn't blind.

'But in his mind he was not being victimized, he was simply supporting people who needed support.

'He had a tremendous desire to take care of people and to solve problems, and if his fame and money could solve other people's problems - so be it.

'He didn't see what was happening around him as "bad behavior" instead he felt he was making life better for other people and giving the gift of happiness. And I think he felt he was atoning for his bad behavior, like having two daughters out of wedlock'.

Shanahan says that Ali used to tell him: 'Who am I to judge anyone else?'

Other times he would say that Allah was keeping a 'tally sheet' and that he wanted to put more good points on it than bad.

The book says: 'He didn't seem angry or vengeful, just depressed that he had been taken advantage of.

'No matter how bad the situation turned out to be, Muhammad would be willing to forgive those who had cheated him...

'...Muhammad did not fit any stereotype of the uneducated, gullible athlete.

'Still, the practical matters of financial responsibility were not his strength. Not only was Muhammad not interested in managing his own money, he had never been concerned enough to hire trustworthy professionals to do the job'.

Ali married Yolanda ('Lonnie') Williams in 1986. They have one adopted  son, Asaad Amin

Shanahan says that Ali could be 'ferocious in the ring but in his personal life he wanted things quiet and easy' so that when people asked him for money the boxer 'never said no'.

The thing that caused Ali to finally seek help running his finances was when $2.5 million that was being held in an escrow account to pay his taxes went missing.

It was being managed by Herbert Muhammad, the son of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, because Ali followed the fringe Muslim belief and trusted him.

Muhammad claimed the money had gone on expenses but at Shanahan's suggestion Ali got in a rescue team to look at his finances.

Those who took a look at Ali's financial and legal affairs included Robert Abboud, chairman of the First National Bank of Chicago, and Barry Frank of IMC, a talent management group.

What they discovered was a total mess.

There were no records to show what contracts Ali had signed or what he had endorsed.

Ali did not even have his own lawyer to represent his commercial interests.

The rescue team pushed aside Ali's inner circle - who bristled at the new order - and during the late 1970s set up a $250,000 sponsorship deal with a potato company, earned another $800,000 from a TV 'Farewell to Muhammad Ali' special and lined up numerous speeches.

Within two years they had built up a trust fund of $2,500,000 and Ali's future was looking secure.

But he would not change his high living, overly generous ways.

Ali splurged on his spending and once bought a $116,000 Rolls Royce on impulse.

Before he even signed paperwork Ali decided he would buy a brand new $13,500 Alfa Romeo Spider for his third wife Veronica, which she didn't even end up using.

Ali did not query the salesman's pitch and told Shanahan: 'They have to make a living too'.

According to 'Running with the Champ', Ali would give money to people who came up to him on the street and, if he didn't have any money, asked Shanahan to give them $20.

Muhammad Ali trains for his upcoming fight against Ken Norton at his training camp in Deer Lake, Pennsylvania

When the local gas station owner knocked on Ali's front door asking for $93,000 to help pay his bills the boxer initially balked - but then emptied his entire wallet for him.

Then there was the matter of alimony for his two ex-wives, which would become three soon after, and the support for their children for which Ali tore up prenuptial agreements and gave whatever he wanted.

Speaking about money, Ali once told Shanahan: 'If I have it, why wouldn't I help the people who need it?'

Yet such generosity had a price and attempts to stabilize Ali's money failed after a few years when he began to ignore the advice of the team of bankers and lawyers brought in by Shanahan, who quit because they could not stand him ignoring their advice.

Ali's World Foundation, the charity he planned to be a key part of his legacy, collapsed before it took off when he decided to fight again meaning it would not qualify for its tax free status.

Shanahan writes that for Ali, it was more about the image of being good with money than anything.

The book says: 'Muhammad loved the idea of being successful at business and talked a lot about being the kind of businessman who would sue his money to make more money.

'But, rather than master the art of contractual fine print, Muhammad's first big goal was to look the part of the prosperous businessman.

'The thing he really wanted to do most in retirement was to wear a suit and tie and carry an attache case.

'So he had a wardrobe of beautiful suits custom tailored for him and purchased a fine leather attache case that he carried with him whenever he went to the office'.

Another cost to Ali was his friendship with Shanahan and they drifted apart due to the boxer's increasingly volatile moods.

Ali repeatedly told him to get out of his life only to try and make things up afterwards but his venom hurt Shanahan who moved to San Diego in the early 1980s to put some distance between him and his friend, who was living in Los Angeles.

However he was there at the UCLA Medical Center in 1984 when Ali was formally diagnosed with Parkinson's at the age of 42.

Speaking about his condition, Ali told him at the time: 'I stumble.

'I move slow. I sleep in late and I'm still tired.

'I feel a little trembling in my left hand and I slur my words. People can't understand what I'm saying.'

Shanahan says that the diagnosis was a 'relief' and explained the change in his friend's mood.

He writes that in all likelihood Ali had been snapping at him for years out of anxiety because he 'sensed that something was wrong with him'.

Shanahan writes that as he and Ali parted ways - which is now some 30 years ago - dealing with his finances was becoming a 'losing battle'.

The book says: 'I had been so optimistic about what these smart, dedicated financial minds might do for Muhammad.

'It was heartbreaking that all their work could not set things right for him'.

According to Shanahan, Ali was haunted by the fate of Joe Louis who was so badly advised during his career that he owed $500,000 in taxes and lived his retirement in terrible health.

Ali and Louis met in Las Vegas in 1978 when Ali was fighting Leon Spinks; Louis was so poor he was reduced to working as a greeter at the Caesar's Palace casino while in a wheelchair.

After Ali was out of earshot he told Shanahan: 'That man is my hero.

'I don't ever want to end up that way.

'You hear me? I don't ever want to be broke and in a wheelchair.

'That's not going to happen.'

Running with the Champ: My Forty-Year Friendship with Muhammad Ali by Tim Shanahan with Chuck Crisafulli is available to order on Amazon