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Bob Dylan on Muhammad Ali: ‘The Most Excellent of Men’

The sportsman’s funeral will take place in his Kentucky hometown at Louisville’s downtown sports arena at 2pm next Friday (6am Saturday NZT) and is open to the public.

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But ultimately, it was septic shock that was the cause of death for Ali.

One of the services will be held at Ali’s last hometown fight in Louisville, Kentucky; the jenazah, will take place on June 9 at Freedom Hall, where Ali defeated Willi Besmanoff on November 29, 1961. “He leaves Wednesday evening”.

Erdogan has asked to speak at the ceremony, organizers said.

Bill Clinton joins a list of famous names eulogizing the former heavyweight champ.

Ali famously converted to the Islamic faith and refused to fight in the Vietnam War, though it cost him years of his boxing career.

“People just wanted to look at him as a great fighter, but he was a great fighter for justice as well, ” El-Amin said.

Ali’s lesson “from that hard period is that although he was criticized and marginalized for his beliefs, there were many people who were not Muslim that came to his defense, ” said Walid, who is black and Muslim.

Ali died on Friday (03Jun16), at the age of 74, following a 32-year battle with Parkinson’s disease.

The three-time world heavyweight champion died in Phoenix, Arizona on Friday at 9.10pm local time after being admitted to hospital with a respiratory condition on Monday.

“That’s what inspired me the most and made me a very, very, huge fan of Muhammad Ali”. In his autobiography he said, “I only said I was the greatest, not the smartest”.

The family of boxer and humanitarian Muhammad Ali will celebrate the beloved icon on Thursday with a private ceremony in Louisville, Ky. The Republican presidential candidate said he would temporarily ban all Muslims from entering the United States, a proposition Ali used one of his last public statements to rebuke.

“They had a full day to say farewell to Muhammad”. He raised his hands to the sky, eyes closed, surrounded by congregants at the church where their father once worshipped.

“We whispered in his ear “you can go now, we will be okay”.

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Tennis great Billie Jean King remembered Ali as fun to be around.

Muhammad Ali's funeral to be watched worldwide by billions on TV