People walk by a large picture of Muhammad Ali at the Muhammad Ali Center on June 10, 2016 in Louisville, Kentucky.
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While the outpouring of love and admiration from the public for Ali was obvious in his later years and the coverage by the media upon his death was more than deserved, Ali was a man who was despised by many Americans at this stage of his life, reviled by much of white America for his arrogant behavior and branded a draft dodger for his stand against the war.
Gunnell said that Tyson wasn’t sure if he would attend the service because of a prior commitment, and that the boxer was highly emotional when he learned of Ali’s death and wasn’t sure if he could handle the memorial.
The pair championed the Muhammad Ali Center, a lasting tribute in Louisville to his boxing career and his humanitarian ideals.
Former US president Bill Clinton delivered the eulogy, while Ali’s widow Lonnie and two of his nine children, daughters Rasheda and Maryum, also addressed the congregation.
“I didn’t really grow up knowing of him very well, but my dad and I both agreed it would be a really great experience to pay tribute to what a wonderful man he was in terms of athleticism, as well as doing so much for civil rights”, Muhammad Ali fan, Anna Estes said. “And I think Muhammad’s hope is that his life provides some guidance on how we might achieve for all people what we aspire for ourselves and our families”, she said.
“I can’t comprehend it, the stories people have been telling about those days”, she said.
City officials estimated 100,000 people came out to honor Ali, many traveling from across the country and across the world. “He never stopped winning battles whether it was in the ring or outside the ring”.
President Barack Obama was unable to make the trip because of daughter Malia’s high school graduation.
Muhammad Ali was remembered with a Jenazah ceremony. “Ali was one of them”, Crystal said.
“He was amusing, he was attractive, he was the most flawless athlete you ever saw and those were his own words!”
Comedian Billy Crystal, a long-time friend of Ali’s whom the champ called “little brother”, described the three-time heavy weight champion as “a tremendous bolt of lightning”.
“Only once in a thousand years or so do we get to hear a Mozart, or see a Picasso, read a Shakespeare”.
Crystal closed his remarks: “He is gone, but he will never die, he was my big brother”.
“Daddy’s looking at us now, right? He shook up the world”.
“He awoke every morning thinking about his own salvation and he would often say I just want to get to heaven and I’ve got to do a lot of good deeds to get there. Until we meet again, fly butterfly fly”.
A pair of boxing gloves was placed on a historical marker in front of Muhammad Ali’s childhood home on Grande Avenue in Louisville, Ky. Cosby noted that Ali was screaming how pretty he was (as he was known to do in the Olympic village in 1960) before James Brown’s iconic 1968 single “I’m Black and I’m Proud” ushered in a new self-pride and new self awareness for African Americans.
“He dared to love black people at a time when black people had problems loving themselves”.
Soccer player David Beckham, left, arrives for Muhammad Ali’s memorial service.
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On Thursday, a Muslim janazah prayer was held in Freedom Hall, with thousands attending, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
