In his tribute, Elliott said “there is no great man that has done more for this city than Muhammad Ali”.
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U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have led further tributes to the boxing champion, celebrating him as “the greatest fighter of them all”. He did not regain the ability to communicate before he died Friday, according to Porsche, who lives in the Los Angeles area and said she got periodic reports about Ali’s health from her daughters.
Laila Ali said her personal grief over the loss of her father, boxing legend and social icon Muhammad Ali, has been eased by the global outpouring of love and support.
Both will join family members as pall bearers as the public pays homage to the man known as the Louisville Lip in his Kentucky birthplace.
Elliott said his grandmother was once a nanny to Ali’s family.
Ali – born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr on January 17, 1942 – dazzled fans with slick moves in the ring and his wit and engaging persona outside it.
“While others who face the kind of hardship he endured often become cynical, bitter and twist it into an excuse for rejecting God, Ali was grateful that by giving him Parkinson’s, Allah reminded him that he – Muhammad Ali – ‘was not number one'”.
After the service, a procession will take place and will transport Ali’s body through his old neighborhood before laying him to rest at the nearby Cave Hill Cemetery.
Information on tickets will be released later.
As they seek solace, the champion’s family recognizes that they are not mourning alone.
Also yesterday, interfaith services were held at Louisville’s Islamic Centre in Ali’s honor.
A funeral for Ali is planned for Friday in his hometown of Louisville, Ky., where world leaders and sports elites are expected to attend. “I beat people up, ‘ he said”.
“The “jenazah” prayer, or funeral prayer, is an obligation that the Muslim community in its entirety owes to any deceased individual from the community”, Shakir said.
“He always whispered in my ear, ‘Billie Jean King, you are the Queen, ‘” she said.
Ali’s body will leave the funeral home at 11 a.m. Thursday for the short drive to the Exposition Center, led only by a police escort.
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“It’s not that I try to study him and emulate how he speaks or walks, I just do me”. King says Ali “talked the talk and walked the walk”.
