These are the words of President Hage Geingob in an emotional tribute to the boxing legend who passed away on Friday.
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Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr in Louisville on January 17, 1942, Ali was a three-time world heavyweight champion and considered to be one of the greatest boxers in history, with 56 wins over the course of his career.
Nizam Zayed, 48, a Palestinian handyman at a gym in the West Bank city of Ramallah, recalls watching Ali’s matches on television.
“After a brief wait, Ali emerged from his room looking very exhausted and exhibiting great humility”.
“There is no questioning the fact that Muhammad Ali changed the face of boxing”.
A famous black and white image of Ali with a stunned expression on his face covers the front page of French daily sports newspaper L’Equipe.
A procession will carry his body down an avenue that bears his name, through his boyhood neighborhood and down Broadway, the scene of the parade that honored the brash young man – then known as Cassius Clay – for his gold medal at the 1960 Olympics.
He was one of his greatest opponents – and closest friends. “Ali is a true example of this belief, as he suffered greatly for his principles”.
His funeral will take place later on Friday in his home town of Louisville, Kentucky, where flags have been flying at half-mast in tribute to him since his death was announced. The officer told him he’d have to learn how to box first.
He says Ali was only probably expecting to be in the studio for a few minutes, but in the end the three men talked for an hour and a half.
Members of Calgary’s Muslim community remembered Muhammad Ali on Sunday as a great champion of their religion, human rights, and social justice.
U.S. President Barack Obama, who keeps a pair of boxing gloves worn by Muhammad Ali in his private study off the Oval Office, said Saturday that Ali “shook up the world and the world is better for it”.
Elsewhere in Ali’s hometown, the memorial grew outside the Muhammad Ali Center as fans poured in from far and near for the glimpse at history.
“The Ali family would like to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers, and support and asks for privacy at this time”, family spokesperson Bob Gunnell shared following news of the boxer’s death.
In a Muslim world with a seemingly infinite number of people called “Mohammed Ali”, the Louisville, Kentucky, native was mostly referred to as Muhammad Ali Clay – ironically retaining one of the “slave” names that he argued so hard and long for people to drop after he became a Muslim. Decades after Ali ceased boxing professionally, his likeness adorns countless T-shirts while the voluble fighter’s quotes have launched hundreds of Internet memes.
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At a memorial service outside Metro Hall Saturday, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer summed up Ali’s deep ties to the city. And if all that’s too much, then I guess I’d settle for being remembered only as a great boxer who became a leader and champion for his people. “And I wouldn’t even mind if folks forgot how pretty I was”.
