Henry Delgado’s passion for the sport of boxing was fueled years ago by watching Muhammad Ali.
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A private service will be held a day before the public memorial, which will be streamed online to fans around the world. On stage, the Suicide Squad star recalled what it was like to play the three-time World Heavyweight Champion in the 2001 film.
Former boxer Joe Bugner, who fought Ali twice, was also a guest on Sportsweek and the 66-year-old, speaking from his home in Australia, said: “He and I became one of the closest friends in the boxing world. Muhammad Ali gave us all – especially young black men – a sense of pride and a sense of strength”.
Heit will remember him as one of the toughest champions to hit the boxing scene. The service will also be shown online.
Meanwhile in Louisville, flags were flown half-mast on all public buildings as people mourned Ali’s death.
Gunnell said the funeral would take place in Ali’s hometown of Louisville, Kentucky on Friday and that it will be true to his Muslim faith, but inclusive for all.
Ali “lived a life so big and bold, it’s hard to believe any one man could do everything he did.in the course of just one lifetime”, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer told the crowd at this morning’s ceremony.
His youngest adoptive son Asaad Amin Ali shared a post on Instagram, writing: “And I’m happy you get to go home to grandma now I know she has missed you like insane!”
Providence boxer Jason Estrada went to the Olympic games in 2004, four decades after Ali took the gold at the Olympics in Rome.
Sport describe the former heavyweight champion, who was banned from boxing for three years for refusing induction to the USA army during the Vietnam war, as the “King of the world”. He was outspoken, eloquent cocky, amusing and poetic, with perhaps his most famous line being that he could “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”.
Many in the United Kingdom will remember Ali’s four appearances on Sir Michael Parkinson’s chat show in the 1970s and 1980s. I saw him stroll downtown sometime back in the early 1990s, Louisville folk, including me, left him alone. “You have to consider those”.
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He added: “I could not believe how handsome he was. He was graceful and all those things and, of course, he was as amusing as hell”.
