Famed photographer Neil Leifer visits his new, permanent gallery inside the Augustus Tower at Caesars Palace. Photos by Clint Karlsen. A photo of Russian weightlifter Vassily Alexeyev taken by Neil Leifer hangs on the wall in the poker room at Caesars Palace. Leifer is perhaps best known for his sports photography. Neil Leifer's image shows Green Bay Packers players carrying coach Vince Lombardi on their shoulders after their victorious Super Bowl II. Nearly every major photograph taken by Neil Leifer hangs in his gallery, from Joe Namath to Willie Mays and Muhammad Ali.

Ask famed photographer Neil Leifer which, of the thousands of pictures he has taken since his career began in the late 1950s, is his favorite and you'll get a surprising answer.

Is it the one he's probably best known for, Muhammad Ali standing triumphant over Sonny Liston?

Or the one of fullback Alan Ameche scoring the winning touchdown in the New York Giants-Baltimore Colts NFL Championship Game on Dec. 28, 1958 at Yankee Stadium?

Maybe it's Secretariat romping to victory in the 1973 Kentucky Derby?

Leifer says his favorite shot is one he took in November 1966 in the Houston Astrodome. It's of Muhammad Ali knocking out a now-forgotten boxer, Cleveland Williams. The camera looks down from a height onto the ring as Ali walks away from Williams sprawled out on the canvas.

Leifer wasn't behind the lens when the photo was taken by his remote camera. He can be seen on the ring apron shooting the knockout from canvas-level.

"It's the only one hanging in my home," says Leifer, whose work is on permanent display at the new Neil Leifer Gallery in the Augustus Tower at Caesars Palace. "I think it's my best photo, too."

He's not alone. Three years ago the London Observer placed it at No. 1 on a list of the "World's 50 Greatest Sports Photographs."

Ali-Liston came in at No. 2.

Not bad for a man whose beginnings were indeed humble.

Growing up in the Lower East Side of New York in less-than-affluent circumstances, Leifer began selling photographs to Sports Illustrated when he was 15 years old.

His first great photo was of Ameche's touchdown, taken on Leifer's 16th birthday with what he calls the "poor man's Rolleiflex," otherwise known as the Yashicamat 124.

The photo took in the touchdown as well as part of Yankee Stadium, capturing a moment in professional football history. It was the first NFL championship game to go into sudden death overtime and earned the name "The Greatest Game Ever Played."

Leifer went on to become a staff photographer at Sports Illustrated, covering many of the biggest events -- Kentucky Derby, the first Super Bowl, the World Series -- and biggest names in sports -- Ali, Sandy Koufax, Arnold Palmer, Martina Navratilova, to name a few.

Although his accomplishments are many, Leifer can nitpick the great photos he has taken. According to Leifer, your head can get inflated when you do great work, then a week later you see something you could do better.

"That's what gets you to the next level," Leifer says. "What gets you going is the idea of improving. With Ali-Williams, there's nothing I would change."

It's a cliche that the best photographs come from being in the right place at the right time. There's also an element of luck, Leifer says.

"What has fascinated me," he says, joking, "is how good photographers get lucky all the time. That's not the case. The best keep getting lucky and that's not an accident."

Leifer will say he is one of the best sports photographers to pick up a camera, but he's also humbled by the talent of many of the photographers he worked with at Sports Illustrated. Photographers such as John Iacono, Walter Iooss Jr. and John G. Zimmerman.

"I always had to work harder," Leifer says, including planning ahead to get the great shot, such as the one of Ali-Williams.

Many of his boxing assignments took him to Caesars Palace, starting in the early 1960s.

Eventually, Leifer's passion for photographing sports diminished in the late 1970s, and he went to work at Time magazine.

"I left to do something other than sports," Leifer says. "I wanted to shoot the whole world out there."

While the move gave him the opportunity to photograph other events, he still received sports assignments.

For the past 10 years, Leifer has done the occasional shoot for Sports Illustrated, including a yearlong assignment last year in which he revisited the sports events of his youth.

"What made me good was how excited I was at what I did," Leifer says.

With the recent magazine assignment, "I got the passion back (for sports) because it was fun and it wasn't for the news."

He could take the time to photograph other aspects of a sports event, instead of having to worry about making a deadline with the event's big shot.

Those photos have been collected in his latest book, "A Year in Sports."

Meanwhile, Leifer, a New York City resident, has kept busy with his passion for filmmaking. He has done documentaries, a couple of feature films and six short subjects, including one just completed, "God's Gift," about a baseball player who signs autographs only "when chasing pretty women or for a lot of money."

Fittingly for a man who has always aimed high, Leifer's goal is nothing less than an Academy Award.

Leifer was approached by Caesars Palace officials to contribute photographs to the resort's poker room, and further discussions led to the permanent gallery.

The Neil Leifer Gallery, the only permanent gallery showing and selling his work, is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Admission is free.